The side-effects of speaking one’s mind

Why should everyone, including Aamir Khan, say the most perfectly worded, politically correct, lawyer-vetted things in public, even if they may think otherwise privately?

Before Aamir Khan, there was Kamal Haasan. Frustrated by forces that were preventing the release of his mega-budget production Vishwarooopam in Tamil Nadu, the actor said he was contemplating leaving the state, the country even, and settling down someplace more secular. The announcement was picked up by some sections of the media – not all, understandably. After all, this was but a Tamil actor, a Tamil movie. When even the devastating floods in Tamil Nadu have received but a drizzle of national coverage, how can the release of a film that will be seen mostly by south Indians be of national importance? This isn’t cynicism. This is truth. Because when Aamir Khan made a similar statement – about insecurity, about fear, about his wife wondering if they should leave the country and settle elsewhere – the entire nation, media channels everywhere, reacted as if the actor had ripped up the tricolour and used it as confetti in a song sequence in one of his films.

But this isn’t about how one artist’s anguish is deemed more important than another’s. This is about something much less exciting. This is about garden-variety freedom of expression – for if we examine the context, there isn’t really much opportunity for outrage. One, these statements came during a freewheeling discussion at an awards ceremony. It wasn’t a speech. It wasn’t an address. It wasn’t inflammatory rhetoric. Two, Aamir Khan is not a politician. He is not a Harvard-educated intellectual. He is not a political op-ed columnist. He is an artist, a concerned citizen, a Muslim married to a Hindu, a father, a human being – and some combination of all this came out in what he said. Three, he said other things as well. For instance, when political columnist Tavleen Singh asked a question about the Paris attacks and Islam, he replied, “A person who is holding a Quran and killing people, he may feel [he] is doing an Islamic act, but as a Muslim I don’t feel he is doing an Islamic act… He is a terrorist and we should recognise him as a terrorist. My problem is not just with the ISIS, but it is with that kind of thinking… This extreme thinking is what I worry about.”

Don’t we all worry about extremism, especially in these times, when every day deposits before us new horrors? There is certainly more fear today, in the common man, than there was even a decade ago. Not all of this is connected to (or can be blamed on) the government, of course, but given that we hear the voices of incensed fringe elements (which some claim are not really “fringe” anymore but mainstream) more than the Prime Minister’s, what is the average Indian supposed to think? Of course, the Prime Minister may be pursuing his development agenda – that may well be his first priority. But that’s also, to the average Indian, a fairly abstract idea. When we hear about increased GDP, we register something vaguely, but news of the Dadri lynching or of writers being shot dead turns us stone cold. Because this is concrete. This could happen to us. And we need someone at the top, a parental figure, to assure us that this was wrong, that this will not happen to us.

Barack Obama keeps assuring the American people. Expert followers of politics and foreign issues and economic development may have complaints about Obama’s tenure, but the average American, when faced with an incomprehensible tragedy, knows that his President will reach out and talk to him. The rest of the stuff is abstract, playing out in the corridors of power. This is what is concrete. This is what affects people at the ground level. This is what is important. And when the average Indian does not get this from his elected representatives, he turns confused, insecure, angry. He begins to wonder which the bigger instance of intolerance is: the Dadri lynching, or the half-hearted acknowledgements by the powers that be. He begins to speak out. This isn’t an attack on the government. This isn’t being unpatriotic. This is simply people giving vent to something they’re feeling very strongly about.

Of course, a celebrity like Aamir Khan is not exactly an “average Indian,” and it’s only to be expected that the media (and social media) picks up and picks apart whatever he says, despite the fact that it may be the exact thing you or I might say in an unguarded moment. But in a mature society, such a statement would give rise to debate. Some people will agree. Some people will disagree. Some people will term you heroic. Others will call you moronic. There can be no resolution to these things, but at least, we will have, on the table, various points of view. What use is democracy if this doesn’t happen? And if, instead, the Twitterati just take offence and begin lashing out, how does it help, except perhaps to give media channels something sensationally juicy to milk? Some people have pointed to the blockbuster success of the Aamir Khan starrer pk as a symbol of Indian tolerance. Look, we’re a Hindu-majority nation and we’re watching a movie in which a Muslim actor satirises our religion. But pk is make-believe. pk is entertainment. pk is a sugar-coated pill, and we could choose to suck on the sugar even if we spat out the pill. Would we have endorsed the same film to such an extent had it not made us laugh, had it been a dead-serious drama about Hindu godmen?

I do not speak as a committed Aamir Khan fan, though I certainly like some of his films and admire his commitment to deliver quality mainstream cinema. I speak as someone who’s tired of the expectation that everyone should say the most perfectly worded, politically correct, lawyer-vetted things in public, even if they may think otherwise privately. Despite his stardom, his clout, his riches, Aamir Khan is still a citizen of this country – an Indian who may not be “average” in any way, but still knows and feels the things the average Indian does. Why shouldn’t he speak out? Why should a film star speak only about films? When we applaud Aamir Khan’s focus on casteism and female infanticide on his television show, why not accord him the right to express what he feels about other issues far-removed from cinema? Why turn intolerant about someone else’s feelings on intolerance?

That, more than wanting to move out of India, may be Aamir Khan’s crime. He was honest about his feelings – from the conversation, these just seem to be feelings born out of emotion, not opinions formed through cold calculation – perhaps forgetting for a moment that there’s a social-media contingent out there watching and waiting like an eagle, ready to swoop down in a flash upon sighting something to prey on. It’s as if we have Facebook and Twitter accounts not to debate and argue, but to mock and maim. Nothing sums up this whole ridiculous “controversy” better than a sad little joke floating around, where a doctor says, “There is pollution in the city. Therefore your lungs…” And Anupam Kher cuts in angrily, “How dare you! This city has given you job, name, fame. How can you call it polluted? You traitor!!!” Moral of the story? Do not speak your mind in public. Be diplomatic, wave, sign autographs, keep smiling.

Sir, a solid interpretation. I agree with you fully. I feel the real reason behind people stabbing Aamir is when he said in the past 8 or so months it has become intolerant. It is as if he is attacking the ruling party. When this part is taking out of context by the media all hell broke loose. I wish our journalists have the sense to see what the speaker means before making a gist out of it. Even The Hindu failed this time. I guess fast food news culture is ruining people’s processing capabilities.

BR, I think a major problem that is contributing to this debate, or lack thereof, is that people don’t seem to get the definition of intolerance. Most of the anger directed towards Aamir sums up the basic sentiment of “why did you not feel insecure when there were terrorists bombing the country or other acts of terror harming the country?” They seem to think that intolerance refers to any negative act that happens in the country. And by thrashing Aamir, they merely prove his point that free speech that is critical of the country or as you said, “speaking one’s mind,” is being met with extremely negative reactions.

And his Satyamava Jayathey had a very preachy holier-than-thou air. The one about corrupt doctors especially had many factual errors and was very one dimensional and one sided: presented only the patient’s point of view. Which need not be the only way to look at incidents or cases. That show made him go down in my regard.

While i agree with most of ur views would like to point out that the outrage felt by most is because of the impression got from reports that mr aamir wants to leave the country. (whether the reports gave the correct picture is another story)

A person of his credibility not directly under any attack (as opposed to kamalhaasan) speaking thus smacks of desertion.
It cant be written off as an unguarded moment of free speech as u, i and mr aamir all very well know the clout movie stars have in this country.

What will be the impact on a not so well off muslim of limited education exposure etc….. ( if aamir himself feels threatened what abt me an ordinary citizen)

I am disappointed with mr aamir usually described as a thinking actor for coming out with such a statement.

Pl note mr rangan only disappointed as also with u for not getting this pulse right.

I have read ur article in Hindu. Problem with people like Aamir khan making statement on tolerence issue is because they are spreading lies. Just interview any ordinary citizen of whatsoever community u will find that these people are spreading lies.

Next the issue of kamal hassan and aamir khan is different. State was using it’s power to block a cinema and being frustrated by the states action he has reacted. On the other hand Aamir has not faced such situation either from the Government or people in General and if he is perceiving that intolerance is growing in country it is only because he is not following his country and it’s people and he is following the media which will propagate such incidents (which may be true or false) because it pricks their emotions and the media gets commercial advantages.

Sir the whole problem is about honesty and that is what was missing when Aamir khan has made this statement. I don’t say he is dishonest person but did not make the present statement honestly and it was made for obvious reasons better known to him.

We Hindus could brush of satires on our gods as entertainment but the same would not happen with other communities. No issues with PK.

One more thing nobody has ever messed with what Aamir khan has done with his personal life. It’s only a hype being created in media and intellectuals and ordinary citizens like me are watching this tamasha.

It is quite interesting here that everybody says indolence is growing but nobody says what is the source.

Before leaving I should aay that ur article is great if only Aamir khan was honest in making the statement.

Amir Khan is anguished. So am I. So maybe you. But if all of us stand in line and keep ‘expressing’ ourselves ad nauseam when will the wound heal? Or is freedom of expression more important that everyone must have his say before the balm is applied?

Majority of our people are tolerant and indifferent to these squabbles. There is a backward mindset in certain regions of our country which will take time to clear. And the encounters between theists and atheists will continue. P.M. has no mantra to cure. The socially conscious people should step in to clear these mental cobwebs.

This mail of mine is a straight appreciation for an article (The importance of being honest) so beautifully and superbly written, covering all aspects of the issue, so nicely that I am tempted to use super superlatives to convey my feelings….. I wish every individual reads it…. KUDOS n BEST WISHES for your endeavours……

BR!! I think we are forgetting the major fact that all these intolerant saga is a wondefully sketched out drama by the opposition parties.. who figured out that the only sensitive way to disturb this ruling party is throwing out a religious stuff and there popped out this intolerance saga… it is a clearly an intolerant outcome of the opposition parties to stage this ‘Intolerance’ drama… no wonder aamir khan being an actor his part of it.. Can we start focussing on more critical imperative issues than focus on such juvenile stuff? In the process we r making the entire world laugh at us….

BR, his answers were all fine until he mentioned that he feels scared since last 6 to 7 months. That’s the reason for this public outburst, because, there weren’t really any untoward large scale incidents in India during this period. Of course, there were tiny incidents through out India, but these were present all the time. The current Indian media have started making too much noise since the advent of Modi as PM, but these incidents have been there all the time. And it happens all over the world.

We don’t expect Aamir to make politically correct statements or lawyer vetted statements, but he being in a position where his statements can resonate widely across, should be responsible enough not to create unrest among the people. It gave the idea to the citizens that a person in his stature faces insecurity, then what about a common man. Apparently, he is not as intelligent as he portrays to be.

This is blasphemous. How can you support Aamir Khan and say that the country is intolerant of intolerance? Please give me the details of all the apps that you endorse so that i can go ahead and give 1 star ratings in protest.

Regards
InternetOutragist

PS: Love the way you analyze movies, the analysis of this molehill-mountain was just as good.

Actually I personally am much more disappointed with the mainstream media for this. There are a few points I’d like to register here.

Whether Aamir was talking freely or whether he had an agenda is actually irrelevant. Like you point out, he is not a political figure and he did not say anything incendiary (though it does strike many as odd that he talks about an intolerant society his son may be facing – the Bandra-Juhu uber elite is what he is going to be rubbing his shoulders with, anyway!). Maybe what he said was annoying to some (many?).

At the end of the day, a general sense of intolerance is clearly there, and this has nothing to do with this current government at all! For instance, try saying anything critical thing about ‘amma’ in Chennai outside the comforts of your home…

When there are more urgent issues that are begging for serious journalism. For instance, the floods in Chennai; to what extent is the disaster man-made? While Chennai has had torrential rains the likes of which it hasn’t seen in a long time, the aftermath has been horrific. And after all this, is there any guarantee that all this water hasn’t just gone into the sea, and that next year, there will be water shortage problems again?

Now, there may be some serious investigative journalism happening in some pockets by some but the fact that this non-topic is hogging the national attention speaks volumes about how low the level of public discourse in India is currently. And somehow we are all tolerant of that. What irony!

“And his Satyamava Jayathey had a very preachy holier-than-thou air. The one about corrupt doctors especially had many factual errors and was very one dimensional and one sided: presented only the patient’s point of view. Which need not be the only way to look at incidents or cases.”

I completely disagree. The serial was anything but preachy. It had emotions. It had songs. It was very accesble and engaging. How many docu-serials on social issues of 90 min duration people watch on TV? If it was preachy peopl in that large nubers wouldnt have watched it. They have a lot of other entertainment options on TV. And what is wrong with holier-than-thou attitude? Someone has to take that attitude and say, “Hey. Female foeticide is wrong. I know better and I am telling you.” And for a serial covering so many subjects there were very few factual errors. Also, I prefer one-sided coverage when it comes to social evils when compared to the cacophony of mutiple voices ofan arnab Goswami show which means nothing in the end. The programme is like a social sector advetisement, where you are trying to pusha message you think needs to be pushed. So you do not weaken your message by showing both sides. There is such a huge asymmtery when it comes to doctor-patient relationship, that in the short time and audience attention span available I would rather show corruption among doctors than a few mitigating circumstances. That would be counter-productive to the purpose of he serial. It does not have the luxury of a never-ending TV debate that goes nowhere. It wants to higlight sme social evils with all the persuasiveness possible. That is how any social reformer functions.

So many of my Hindu friends exploded in anger in social media over the Dadri incident and the beef ban and the various incidents of intolerance reported lately in India. But most of my Muslim friends (with one or two exceptions) remain silent about the various terrorist attacks by muslim fundamental groups. How I would like to see more moderate Muslims speak out in anger against the terror attacks. How I would like to see our government speak out against the intolerance shown by us recently towards minorities.

If Aamir Khan has the right to speak his mind, don’t we, who do not agree with him, have the right to criticise him too? Why are the people, who are not in agreement with him, being accused of bullying?

Chetan Bhagat has made a fantastic point, if the Paris attackers are not representative of Islam, how are stray incidents representative of India’s intolerance. Will Aamir and Shahrukh care to respond?

Rangan gi, Amirkhan is great actor and a humanitarian. Nobody objects if he have some political views. But the way he expressed is not right. He supported Narmada Bachavo Andolan. He supported Anna Hazare movement. If he condemns Dadri killing, nobody would have objections. When the left liberal intelligentia, who is unble to digest Modi ascending to power, is venting their frustations not in a dignified way, Amirkhan should be clever not to fall in their pray. Journalists like Burkadutt use this slip overs and raise their muslim identity and try to create havoc. This happened in Sharuk Khan case. I like Salmankhan who respects Indian ethos. It is unfortunate it is not the case with the other Khans.

The media thought it important enough to blare it out in thick headlines. And used it as a proof of growing intolerance.

As we all know freedom of expression has its boundaries and it applies to everyone. We may say what we like privately or among friends (and sometimes suffer the consequences even then) but when we are making a public statement, we should take care and especially people like Amir. ‘With great power comes great responsibility’.

Of course, he didn’t deserve the backlash he got. But may be he planned for it. Who knows, he is a highly intelligent person and he has already seen what another Khan has gone through for being ‘frank’.

I suspect this was the last straw. Many people are hopping mad about the ‘growing intolerance’ remarks. Aamir is respected as an intelligent filmmaker and when he also said this, people must have felt betrayed.

And I don’t agree with you about the ‘sad little joke’ either. It looks clever but doesn’t really portray the situation.

Journalist: So Doctor, what is your opinion about bursting firecrackers?…. Doctor:I strongly condemn the practice. In fact it is the main reason for lung diseases. I’m thinking of leaving this country. A.K. What about your AC, your car, the trees you cut down for building your mansion…..?

Having said that, my opinion about Aamir hasn’t changed at all. Storm in a tea spoon is what it is :)))

Rangan gi, you mentioned about Kamal Hasan. Kamal sir has ever right to move whatever place he chooses to move on earth because he felt persecuted. What he did wrong was he compared his personal case with great artist M.F. Hussian. Hussain left India because he was unable to face a legal case born out his actions. Thats why he was criticised.

This has now become inevitable with the emergence of social media, it was bound to happen. In the absence of internet back then, when we used to have family get-togethers during a Diwali or Pongal, the ‘perusus’ start having conversations to eventually center upon cinema and politics, liberally passing judgments. Now being ‘perusus’ ourselves, how can we not avoid the temptation especially when the majority of us have our own personal handles on social media and literally hundreds of peers on it to witness what we say. Back then a review of a movie from a friend or family member ended up in either of two words: super – go and watch, or ‘dravai (phenomenally bad)’ – keep off. Now everyone dons a critic’s hat and feel compelled to say something, and this is more out of a desire to project their inclinations, which is reflective of their personas (garnished with writing skills) and what other simpler way we have other than social media? In a real conversation, you tend to get cut off during the heat of a debate or due to high running emotions ( or ignored in some cases 🙂 ), not quite the same thing as writing and publishing something for the whole world to read it out in its entirety on what we are expressing.

WE MUST SAY SOMETHING and not do so is a push against this temptation. I do not agree with blind celebrity bashing as well (a disturbing popular trend of late), but I do like some (insightful) genuine debates that stems out of this, and the fringe expressions of creativity, in the form of memes, some of which though lacking in taste are utterly funny 🙂

Dear BR, this piece nailed it. I guess people do not understand ‘intolerance’, they assume that ‘tolerating’ the presence of Muslims in the country shows their magnanimity and broad mindedness. Conflating past terrorist attacks to other burning social issues is another common ploy of the right wing nutters. In medicine there is a term called ‘creeping substitution’ more like the analogy of the frog in a boiling pot, similarly what was in the fringes now has become part of the mainstream discourse. This has historic parallels, it happened in Pakistan in the late 70’s and early 80’s unleashing a monster which is now ravaging the country, I fear that we may turn out to be a Hindu Pakistan.

Hindu majoritarianism and radical Islam are beasts that feed of each other. Being a father I empathize with Aamir, I would want my kid to grow up in a secular, plural and a free society, where people despite their differences work and live together. We are a product of our times, we are shaped and molded by the society we live in and we do not want our kids to end up as a Hindu zealot or an Islamist.

On a another note I’m just wondering what these people would have done to Periyar if he were alive today, probably burned him at the stake?

Also BR when we say “from the conversation, these just seem to be feelings born out of emotion, not opinions formed through cold calculation” remember he delivers dialogues for a living. Especially when the same actor states on Nov 11 that he “sees new hope and positivity all around” and on Nov 24 says “sense of despondency” he’s clearly living out a ‘Ghajini’ moment. Talk about dedication to a role. These stars carry the risk of ‘marketing’ all the time (“oh his movie is a year away so he needs to remain relevant all the time”) hence very incorrect to attribute any of what said as “genuine emotion” or “calculative/manipulative”

And I say all this being a HUGE fan of his work.

The bigger problem that I see is this: Why do we need our current affairs analysis from bollywood stars? They anyway get away with disproportionate attention all the time. What ever happened to genuine experts on policy related/current affairs related issues? News reporting got all sexed up and became ‘news presenting’ with its own superstar presenters!

@BR,Aamir Khan has the right to his views. But If some one has a point of view, that is dangerous, dishonestly motivated then we have every right to counter that devilish point of view. That is what is happening in the various reactions. I am surprised that you are criticising that

Aamir Khan is not a normal human being like me. He is a high list celebrity. Who by his actions and words make money, which is his profession. People buy products or watch movies based on what he says and does. And to think that he did not think through all this before saying what he said is unfathomable for me. I’m in no way condoning what was said about him and his wife. Also one more thing, this whole “intolerance” thing is a very political agenda, cue the whole intolerance stuff stopped right after elections. And to see a star like Aamir was what frustrated me at least.

Jaywant: Baradwaj, I agree that every citizen has right to express but Aamir Khan is getting paid crores of rupees by Indian Govt. led by Modi and this guy. one of the richest Indians in India, decides to join the ‘India is most intolerant nation’ bandwagon, albeit late by 4 weeks!

His criticism would have had merit had he acknowledged the ‘tolerance’ and magnanimity of India’s majority population in accepting him as their ‘hero’… He married and divorced two women.. Indians still continued to give him love… they did not care that he married Hindu women… Indian do not live in vacuum… they see that in parts of Indian subcontinent, Christians churches are bombed (last year 40 were killed by Islamists in Islamabad), Hindu girls in Sind abducted, forcibly converted in Madrassa and married off to Jehadis and Shia girls being killed by Sunni terrorists…. when you compare to all that, you get the perspective that if one death in Dadri becomes headline news for weeks, that is actually proof that India is most tolerant and peaceful nation on Earth!

Aamir Khan should name one country that is more tolerant than India… if he cannot, then he is either a fool or a pawn in hands of political foes of Modi… he made millions making a movie lampooning Hindu Faith… where else in the world will he be allowed to do that? I dare him to make a satire on other Religions like Islam and then he can see how ‘tolerant’ people will be!

Shankar: Dear Baradwaj, I appreciate your pointing out that Aamir Khan also referred to the ISIS atrocities and condemned any act of terror in the name of religion. I agree that Aamir said things as a part of a candid, unprepared conversation just like you and I would in a closed circle.

In my view, the dishonesty of the episode, stems from the following;

While Aamir made balanced comments on different issues, the TV channels chose to repeat the specific clip about ” thought of leaving the country” several times. Then they brought panelists to discuss these few sentences threadbare for several hours. Then they sought the established loudmouths for views – so as to make a masala cocktail out of a stray comment. This is the first level of dishonesty. As you see, I am not attributing this to Aamir.

Then predictably, the politicians and the celebrities align themselves on either side of the debate- for certain invisible benefits that I may not understand with my own IQ.

As for Aamir, yes, he has talked about casteism and female infanticide – but not for free. We do not know how much he charged the TV channels for these.

We paid Rs 120 to go and watch Aamir Khan in PK, commenting on religions and superstitions. We had a hearty laugh and considered it as entertainment. The same gentleman promoted the carbonated drink ” Coke” for years and made us think that it was the best thing for a great life – worse than what spurious god men preach. So let us face it, a professional actor is here to make money in reel and real life.

Lastly, I am not sure if Indian Express paid money to the actor for making an appearance the event. If they had, I am not surprised.

So, it is all about money and power and all the talk about intolerance or tolerance is just a smokescreen.

Gangadharan: > Respected Baradwaj Sir, I Read your article in “The Hindu” editorial page about the importance of being honest.

Although we are a secular ,Democratic country with varied religion, language and culture , the freedom of speech does not permit one to speak anything and anywhere.

Majority of the Hindu Indians like you and me have been treating our Muslim brothers and sisters with utmost respect more than we give to our sub castes and dalits brothers and sisters.

It is the poor people of our country who suffer more than the financially sound Hindus and Muslims.

How can rich people like Aamir, Sharukh and Dilip Kumar feel insecure, when they can buy anybody or anything in India and abroad.

Can a poor Muslim for eg my friend Abdul Azeez make a statement like this. Or as a friend will I allow my Friend to be harassed by fanatical Hindus. Certainly not.

People in high positions should be careful while wording their comments, because their words can whip hatred among public. Even Mr. Modi could respond to all the comments. He is silent because, whatever reply he makes will have some bias, which will create further trouble.

I am not a Modi supporter. Even being a South Indian I have voted for Aam Aadmi, which is a non entity in Chennai, in the recent Lok Sabha elections.

I am not saying film stars can’t open their mouth, but by virtue of their popularity in Cinema, they should not make irresponsible statements. This includes Kamal Hasan too.

Keshav: this is about your argument Amir Khan. consistent reading of this newspaper has made me critic, though I have no match for the verbose and arguments (sometimes illogical).

First of all, I was(am) an ardent fan of Amir Khan. But when — after the release of “Three Idiot”– he denied that the film is based on Chetan Bhagat novel “5 points someone”, I was aghast. To my mind film is 70-80 % based on that novel. Then I cling to the believe that, Actors are diplomatic, wave, sign autographs, and keep smiling. Then came his TV series “Satyamev Jayate” i was fascinated by this program. Time magazine has aptly captioned Can a single man change India?

So is no question of sincerity and commitment of Amir Khan towards people and nation, but it really made me sad, that he no longer feel here home and want to leave country.

When you suggest PK been made as dead-serious drama about Hindu godmen, I that is also possible. Now imagine a situation in which a critical movie is made on Islam, you could seen the response of our fellow muslim brethren. Then tons of article would have been published in THE HINDU on sensitivity, minority rights and secularism(only argument would have been in opposite direction).

Aamir Khan is not a normal human being. He is a high list celebrity. Who by his actions and words make money, which is his profession. People buy products or watch movies based on what he says and does. And to think that he did not think through all this before saying what he said is unfathomable for me. I’m in no way condoning what was said about him and his wife. Also one more thing, this whole “intolerance” thng is a very political agenda according to me. And to see a star like Aamir following the same agenda, was what frustrated me atleast.

Vinod: Hello sir, I fully appreciate your point in the importance of being honest, especially when it comes to icons like film stars, sportspersons etc. For them, it is critical to be neutral in their thoughts and more importantly sensitive, well knowing the after effects of their deeds/suggestions in a country with a sizable no. of blind admirers. This will then be very much counterproductive ( if indeed his point was sincerely honest rather than well crafted as the person he is normally) in a sense that it will lead to more fear psychosis which at this point should be strictly avoided to make the matters worse.

People like him will be given an audience even by the PM,President etc to freely air their views (rather than in public) which I am sure will be taken in very good light by these dignitaries. This has been the case earlier while he was doing the applaudable social causes as part of the Incredible India campaign. I am only surprised why he he didn’t take that route in this matter also, if he was really disturbed.

I hope & wish eminent responsible persons like him by making these statements doesn’t play to the gallery which then effectively nullify our chances to counter dicey partner nation’s like US and others(for whom self existence at any cost is the only motto)

Also people like him should take a holistic view of the nation which is under renewed threat from sessionist forces in Kashmir, Punjab & to an extent N.East.

Disclaimer: I am not a voracious writer like you,hence kindly apologise for any inappropriate usage of words in the above message.

Rajeev: Sir, Whether his honesty is an output of modi’s make in India, before that where were this doctor’s honesty, when india was polluted by corruption to the core. “His Conditional honesty is what people can’t follow.

Vivek: Dear Mr. Baradwaj, I have never written to any journalist regarding any article all these years so this is a first.

I really appreciate the balanced article you wrote in today’s Hindu (26th November 2015) titled, ‘The importance of being honest’. Very well written. Thank you for maintaining the raised bar for journalistic standard at your paper.

On a side note, I was totally aghast at a rivalling paper’s suppliment article for reasons unrelated to the content of the article (Attached here).

While it is absolutely unfair of me to contrast the two articles, your article made me hold onto my faith, that somewhere, even in the face of stiff competition and possibly declining standards of writing and readership needs, there are standards in journalistic writing and good articles that are being making the pages of real newspapers.

Rachana: Hi, I would like to appreciate you on ur article in the newspaper. Its simply beaaautiful…. Clearly mentions the thoughts in the mind of an Indian citizen about the current happening. So true. Hats off to you Sir.

Raghavan: Dear Mr Rangan,
For a minute you could forget Aamir.
Would the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 started, but for a bit of lard on a cartridge? But for the lard would be still be enjoying eternal bliss with a certain family as appointed commonwealth agent of the British?

Certain respect to food of local sensitivity was always maintained, including the Awadh rulers making poultry & lamb mainstay of their cuisine sparing the bovine. Tolerance was never a debated topic then.

Coming to your reference of Civil Society, do you mean that just a few dozen of so called elitists decide the demonising of the country? Any murder is bad and if any in the name of religion is terrible. Instead of desensitising these issues and address it adequately to harmonize themselves with the rest they cannot and should not be allowed to carry a banner of intolerance only because it suits them.

Further, repeating the term or the murder story a million times does not make it a million fold better but only worse. The media, unfortunately is such a let down that even a newspaper like yours has succumbed to a measure of self gratification instead to looking around.

Any society will have instances where it is challenged every now and them and society finds a equilibrium and evolves. Evolution is not a medicated bolus that needs to be pushed down anyone’s throat.

We are all normal Indians, we are going about our life and living. Couple of murders and views of a few (civil or uncivil) or the intense negative campaign carried on by you few is not going to take the pride of being an Indian or living in India.

May be you should also guide your newspaper to its neutrality which it has lost a long time back.

Mohammed: Sir, I have read your article in the perspective section of The Hindu titled ‘ The importance of being honest’. I regard it as a well thought article. But the introduction was a bit prejudiced. You cannot limit the influence of an actor of kamal Hassan’s stature to just on viewers of South India. I don’t know how you come to that opinion. Films of stars like Rajnikanth and Kamal Hassan are widely regarded world over with fans even in Russia. But I want to state it clear that I am not a self confessed fan of both.

Regarding your analysis of an average Indian getting stone cold on lynching and not on development, I have strong opposition because you cannot underestimate the knowledge of an average man in such a generalised pattern. I do agree with your view of media sensationalism causing such protests. On regards to parental figure comment, my opinion is that, speaking development and allowing the fringe to act and then playing the role of a parental figure doesn’t make sense. After all our parent has a grey past which is widely regarded even by international media. Overall sir you have took a middle path which I would applaud considering the need to maintain an above average person tag.

But the analysis in the last two paragraphs were superb and I regard ‘Anupam Kher joke’ as the humour of the year. Well, I have to be honest.

Sujitha: Respected Sir, I am glad to have read your article. You really spoke out my mind. The final story and its moral was excellent. Congress gets involved in a scam we elect BJP; BJP does some nonsense and we go back to congress again. Why do people are so dumb?? They couldn’t forgive or forget their own relatives or neighbours for misdeeds but how could they forget if it is done on a national basis? Since all are affected are they accepting it?? Should there be a new revolution or protest to throw away these dynasty parties?? Is it not, if we dont wake up now we are going to have similar violences continuing? Will silence and world touring remain as Modi’s agenda for his remaining tenure?? Where are we heading towards sir??

Huma: Dear Mr. Rangan, The response and controversy around Aamir Khnan’s statement disturbed me a lot. On top of that forwarded messages on watsapp was making me nauseated. Kudos to you for your article, you wrote what I had choked inside. Certainty made my day. Well done.

Ravi Shankar: Congratulations for a very well written article published in the Hindu. There is a third world war fast approaching. A comet ( mentioned in the Book of Revelations) is making fast approach and will destroy one third of the land in January 2037. It will impact Europe and will cause a famine. This famine will become gradually global. The Mahdi of Greater Arabia will launch a deceptive peace program and will get his hands on nuclear missiles. Islamic prophecies mention that Islamic invaders will be successful in invading Italy. It is also mentioned in the St. Malachy prophecies that Peter the Roman will preside over the destruction of the Church. after the asteroid ( hits the sea in June 2040 will destroy one third of the fishes and ships ) hostilities will break out paving the war in 2041 lasting 23 Years. Moreover 200 million soldiers mentioned in the Revelations book will kill 3 billion people about one third of the humanity. However the Christian prophecies and Indian prophecies mention about Kalki the last reincarnation of Vishnu who will restore order. Kalki was born in Shambala in the Telugu new year of Vishwavasu in 1965-66. He will appear to all his devotees in the year 2041 onwards.

“If Aamir Khan has the right to speak his mind, don’t we, who do not agree with him, have the right to criticise him too? Why are the people, who are not in agreement with him, being accused of bullying?”

Because bullying is what has been going on in response. Ask him to move to Syria or Saudi Arabia, Delete Apps he endorses, Call hima Paki agent etc. etc. Has there been any considered response? The more imporatnt thing is, it was a half an hour discussion in which he talked about a lot things – citizen’s responsibility in nation building for one. No one even bothered to look at it. The worst part is there are viral posts about “how he can question the tolerance of Hindus?” WTF is that, did he, in that whole discussion, ever point at any religion for intolerance? Heck he did not even question the government per se.

I think the over the top reaction is sign of pseudo-patriotism that has gripped the country

muthu subramanian:dear sir, i am muthusubramanian s, retd executive of state bank of india and a long time reader of the hindu.

in your synopsis you have mentioned that dadri lynching turns one stone cold. fine. did you ever think for a moment as to why mangalore-like incidents fail to agitate the conscience of intellectuals of this great nation? is it because the life of a hindu, if eliminated by a secularist, considered nothing more than dirt and filth?

you may throw this mail into waste bin; still i felt a duty to give vent to these feelings. necessity will make the majority also to learn the nuances of this dirty game sooner than later.

Abhinav:respected sir I have read your article on importance of being honest in the hindu and would like to register my views on it if I’m allowed. The article states that Aamir khan has made quite a correct and honest statement and that if there is any contradiction to his perception then a debate would settle it, but my view on your suggestion is that not every one in this country is Aamir Khan or Shah Rukh Khan for the matter that they can air their honest views in the mainstream media which has often been terribly biased on various issues, on the contrary I think social media has given a platform to the common man and the celebrities alike.

In a society you will have all kinds of voices; fundamentalist, moderates, flip flops, political, intellectual etc. so selectively silencing the fundamentalist will that help in debate? in a debate every voice has to be respected and corrected only by dismantling arguments based on facts. Remember ours is country where a terrorist like Yakub Memon got a funeral procession so first people on the left need to respect the voices of right! you say there’s not much opportunity for outrage over the statement if analyzed but i feel there’s a strong case for it;

Mr.Aamir says that he felt despondent and insecure in the last 7/8 months over the rising intolerance in the country my question is why only in the past 8 odd months? when 26/11 happened he never felt insecure which every mumbai kar should have thought of leaving mumbai? on the contrary instead of instilling fear among the society he should have been pro active in saying that we have seen so much we can come through this also!

I also agree that the problem is also with the government in not reaching out effectively to the minority community on the issue but to squarely blame the central government for all the crimes happening in the various states of the country is very apologetic. Of course Mr.Aamir is entitled to his views but to say that there should be no backlash is quite hypocritical, we as citizens of this country have faced a lot worse but never have contemplated of discarding the society; everyone has to understand today in social media all kinds of elements will be there if you don’t have the guts to stand by your view why voice it out?

surprisingly its the mainstream media making a issue of it where as Aamir has stood by his statement. Your point on dadri is only partly true because I feel that if there are jobs for youths and food on plate there’s likely to be another incident like dadri which is exactly what the state government has done after the incident created jobs in the area why didn’t they wake up earlier?! The problem with the protesting writers and artistes is that they have selectively criticized the government at the center and forgotten that state has full control of law and order mechanisms . Mr Aamir seems to suggest the same that the central government has failed to ensure security to its citizens and that India as a country has become intolerant only in the past 7/8 months?! and mainstream media and the foreign media has only added fuel to the fire by trying to silence those who criticize Aamir for his views, isn’t that intolerant?

I think its more about the mainstream media failing to understand the peoples real feeling about the issue because every Indian feels regret for such incident but to question him on why he has become like this is equating fringe to the society which is unfortunate? Mr Aamir’s view on isis should also have been strong to tell the Muslim community to fight back hard against isis when your much respected President Barack Obama said so why couldn’t he do the sam? I feel here after we will see the true democracy not the bought out one!

Don’t cry over the rising influence of social media in the society and accept with all humility its not your view that is always politically correct its time to hear out the people! last part of your article seems to suggest just that !

Sripriya: Dear Baradwaj, Warm Greetings! Enjoyed your sensible writing on the importance of being honest. Very well said. Best is to be a hypocrite. Talk sweet nothings…. None can speak their mind out… It is a crime. Moral given by you… So very beautiful. Wonder when, whether and how people will think better n change for the better. Thanks n best wishes to you!

Aasmeen: Sir, I really liked your views expressed in article (“The importance of being honest;” dated November 26 ). The ideas you highlighted were quite practical, highlighting the present prevalent situations. Looking forward to read more such articles from your side .

Mani: Dear Sri Baradwaj Rangan, I read your above titled article with dismay. Because I am your fan and admirer. I am just an 82 year old person reading The Hindu for the past 70 years since my schooldays in Tenkasi and latter college days in Tirunelveli and Madras.

This word or phrase Intolerance is misconstrued. In India the second largest Muslim populated country, people of all religions are living peacefully. In acountry of more than 100 crores of people, if three or four or even 50 stray incidents of communal trouble happen is it to be labelled as INTOLERANCE? If India as a whole nation really INTOLERANT how come actors like Amir Khan, Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan Dilip Kumar, Meenakumari, and playback singers like Md Rafi and Music Director Naushad Ali and our own A R Rahman thrived very successfully and amassed Millions and Millions. More than 90% of the fans who paid for these Crorepathis success were and are Hindus. Can you deny that. Yet nobody thought of these people as Hindu actor or Muslim one.

If as you say we have been INTOLERANT, no non Hindu could have become the President of India, Prime Minister or Chief Minister or Cricket Captainor Chief Justices, Army Chiefs etc etc the list is staggering. Do you honestly think that any non Hindu is ill treated? In Tamil Nadu the Dravidian parties hated the Hindu way of life and a particular community was singled out for shabby attack. Our Hindu Gods were denegrated by our own Dravidian parties under misguided self proclaimed leaders. Even our own Kamal Hasan who is a Brahmin never misses an opportunity to derile and ridicule the Hindu faiths and customs. More than 90 per cent of his fans are Hindus. Have they ill treated him ?

Please touch your heart ,in which country , Germany, England, Sweden or any Gulf or African countries people belonging to the minority religion become can climb to the top ? What s the situation in Pakistan? Can any Hindu or Christian become an Army Chief or Chief Justice or President or Cricket Captain or stars like the the ilk of Ameer Khan? Then why this well orchestrated campaign of Intolerance. Only a handful who have access to the English Media (including The Hindu) and so called intellectuals are master mindinding this sinister campaign. They do not realise that their action does great harm to Indian interests. Please do not blow out of proportion small and stray incidents and harm our countrys interests.

Dhiraj Singh: Dear Baradwaj ji, just read your article in The Hindu, I really appreciate and acknowledge your effort of redrawing the so called intelligent and literate Indians, who become very intolerant at any moment and are always ready to vent their anger any where (fb, twitter) and lash upon any view expressed in a democratic country like ours. kudos to you dear, we need to appreciate Aamir Khan and likes so that we are able to answer to the fringe elements of our country.

Varsha: Hello, I had read your article in The Hindu today (The importance of being honest) and I couldn’t agree with you more.

You have rightly stated that if Aamir Khan’s statement is intolerant and controversial, then how should people express their insecurity to the government? If a celebrity is denied the freedom of speech and expression then what about the commom man?

Sometimes I wonder if these controversies are created just to distract or mislead the people from the core issues!

Your article serves as a mouth piece for all the people who believe that something is wrong but don’t have the courage to admit it!

Rameeza: I appreciate your reasonable article on Amir khan. I am really disturbed by the mindless attack on him. Many people of eminence say he should have exercised caution before uttering those words before an audience. From when India has become a nation where members of the civil society should exercise extreme caution before articulating their views on the changing political and social climate of the nation in public or private? If that situation has indeed reached today, then we have every right to conclude that, India has become an intolerant nation.

I am academic and gender economist. Often I interact with women and youth and members of think tanks. Often I have heard, in the middle of private conversations on topics like corruption, poor governance, poor infrastructure, lack of accountability at every layer of social infrastructure, such as education, health, skill training and research, people saying that , they want to leave this nation if a chance comes. They really do not mean it. They utter those words in disgust when things happen beyond the level of their digestion. Those words are uttered due to disappointment with the performance of our rulers , high level corruption which results in untold miseries to the citizens when ever natural calamities happen and when natural resources are looted by criminals in collusion with bureaucrats and politicians and when communal harmony is disturbed by the statements of political leaders and their followers who have divisive agenda all the time in their mind.

I am an intense news observer and hence I was thinking why, there was no such reaction when Kamala Hasan expressed the same sentiments like Aamir khan in the a past. Naturally the Muslims will think that he is targeted because of his religion and it will increase their insecure feelings further. The very fact that every Muslim in this nation, at the present environment is expected to think, write, talk, act, eat and wear as per the majority community’s wishes is alarming. It is also not very nice to force Aamir khan to declare his love and patriotism towards this nation just to free himself from continued attack on him. The National news channels are playing dirty tricks over this matter.

On personal note– I would like to share a matter with you. I am a Muslim and my highly qualified sons are settled in USA. Recently they obtained Green card for me and asked me to settle down there permanently since they don’t want me to live here alone. I told them, that, “I have visited USA four times and stayed there for some time. But I am not tempted to live there permanently, because I love India in spite of mismanagement of resources, high level corruptions, poor infrastructure etc., because this nation has a soul which binds every body in spite of differences in caste ,religion and language and Muslims are very safe here . These words uttered were from my heart. But I do not know what the future holds for Indian Muslims especially when highly educated persons holding responsible positions talk of disfranchising Muslims if they do not declare that, their ancestors are Hindus and another one telling us to go to Pakistan as if Pakistan is ready with refugee camps. We are tired of the constant need to prove our patriotism from which our non Muslim citizens are free. They can criticise the government through lectures, articles and interviews. No stone will be thrown on their houses. This is today’s India.. What will be the future India ? we do not know.

In the first paragraph, you write that Kamal Haasan’s controversial statement after Vishwaroopam got more media coverage than the Chennai floods. This is contrary to logic but public interest reflects emotional issues, not rational thinking. Let me illustrate: the downing of the Malaysian commercial aircraft months ago and the sad pictures of mourning families stirred up far greater media coverage and public outrage than the millions of people killed each year in road accidents. The human brain is evolutionarily designed to notice the unusual. Air disasters, not road accidents, are aberrations in our collective psyche. We always reflect more upon emotional issues. So too, Aamir Khan’s statement.

That Aamir Khan is praised for documentaries on female foeticide but gets caught up in raging debate over a personal view is a mere pointer that these are politically over-correct times. Not convinced? Here’s more… In the increasingly gender-neutral (gender-equal?) office environment of corporate India today, it is highly improper and legally risky to innocently compliment a female colleague on “good looks”. Such a statement smacks of sexism. Now shift focus to the West where male-female equality and female rights have been a buzzword for decades. It is so unsafe in the US now for a young male teen to date a girl – for fear of allegations of rape charges – that males in Western society are increasingly seeking a legally safer option: gay relationships! This is what happens when we split hairs as a society.

Coming back to Khan’s statement. Firstly, everyone is entitled to an opinion. Second, opinions have always existed. Tweets and posts are new and allow millions to access what would have remained an unheard string of words.

We worry excessively about cow politics and beef. The real concerns ought to be leaf (environment), fief (families in politics), chief (leadership woes) and thief (corruption). Lest we end up with grief and disbelief!!

Sixty years ago, the world was allergic to surnames such as Kahn (German). Today, the problem happens if one is a Khan!

savyasachi: Dear Bharadwaj, totally disagree and refute your endowed ‘ right to unbridled refutation’ expressed in favor of Aamir. Right has a price of responsibility and duty. Indian society has churned out its deficiencies of Sati or child marriage because of it being open to criticism and discussions. So, we could have reformers but sorrily elsewhere where it is urgent now. In the very first episode of Satyamev Jayate, i had apprehended that Aamir will turn out to be a cause of reform selectively only. I had bet he would fail to make a single episode to issue urgent social issues prevalent among muslim fraternity. Many seasons gone, wait is still there. reason is simple he is marketing himself where he can earn name and fame. Other way he will be slapped with fatwas. I thank him for satyamev Jayate episodes. But make one from your fraternity that will be real neutral and concerned aamir as otherwise tearful Aamir. Neutrality and impartiality is at the core of constitution.

Is it the most intolerant era of Indian history? Had there been these artists in Pakistan, their talent would have gone in vain. How many intellectuals would thank God for not sending them as minority Pakistani or Minority Bangladeshi and happy to be born as Minority Indian where everyone is treated equally.

Show neutrality brother.You can do PK only in India? I claim no Hindu mother pour milk on shivalinga after throwing her kid under fade. May be she can give surplus to deprived ones but at the same time she can not be blamed and criticized for her failure to establish such a distribution system. Indeed that will be more than appreciation. But at the same time it does not license these selective critiques to defame and show artisitc skils based on other religious worshiping systems. Be the change you want to see in the world. One sensitive issue outside India you protest and derail days in India and you seek every right ” to question sentiments of others in India” ‘ to be protected. Its totally biased.

Raise issue against population explosion in poor muslim families where its nourishment is under threat and exploitation of women is immense. Make a satyamev Jayate there, India needs more such episodes. Please stay here, still its safer than any other majority Muslim country and keep entertaining. One will always be analysed in the entirety of his or her actions not in bits and pieces.

Shubham: Sir I have read your article The importance of being honest. I agree to all of your points and I just want sir that if you can write one more article about our media, after all what Aamir said was not entirely understood by public thanxs to our “unbiased” media and social network.

Sir as a youth we want our nation to provide for our future so that we can give them back in future, not this.

So sir i request you to write about it also that what does our youngster actually want and why they are dragged in all this by handful of people on religion.

Can Aamir, SRK, Kamal criticise ? Absolutely. Not only can they criticise they can and should do in the loudest voices possible. Someone in the comments mentioned why is Kamal not being targeted while Aamir is, this has nothing to do with Hindu/Muslim, its simply because Aamir has a bigger reach.

Most of the criticism of Aamir’s criticism tends to be “Let him go to Pakistan”, “Why doesn’t he instil patriotism in his wife?” – This is completely idiotic to say the least. He was born here, this is his country and he has as much right to criticise as anyone else.

However, a reason why a large number of these responses are of the above ilk is because a very large portion of the Muslim population keeps quiet when atrocities of any kind are committed by a Muslim terrorist either in India or abroad. Lets not sugar coat this bit. Hiding behind the “they are not true muslims or this is not the majority” argument is specious and dishonest. History has shown that the silent majority is irrelevant and does not count.

Can the PM do better? No question about it. Are fringe outfits like the Hindu Mahasabha bolder than before. Absolutely. Is it only their fault? No. For every fringe Hindu outfit there is an equivalent Islamic one.

Me, personally, i don’t care if you think Jesus is your homeboy, Ram is your Rambo or you are going to get 72 virgins. I only believe in the almighty Cthulu who takes offerings in the form of fresh weed and clear alcohol.

Raghav: It’s not just Aamir. Take Express. If they invite him to be at the event, he’s going to go (provided time works out etc.) So why should they invite him in the first place? Maybe that should be your question 🙂

As for what Aamir is supposed to have said, my point is that HE DID NOT SAY IT. At least at this event. It started with his wife, and what is said (in effect) is… “If she says something like this, that’s big for her – and I think that’s because of the atmosphere in the country.” Something to the effect.

Favourite line: Nothing sums up this whole ridiculous “controversy” better than a sad little joke floating around, where a doctor says, “There is pollution in the city. Therefore your lungs…” And Anupam Kher cuts in angrily, “How dare you! This city has given you job, name, fame. How can you call it polluted? You traitor!!!” Moral of the story? Do not speak your mind in public. Be diplomatic, wave, sign autographs, keep smiling.

Krishnan: Dear Mr Baradwaj Rangan, I read your article with interest. I agree with you as well as the editorial that Amir Khan has a right to speak of his feeling of intolerance.

Considering, that his country has been good to him and also the yearning of committed fans like me, in fact, for all the three illustrious Khans, he should divulge the country which he considers tolerant, worth shifting to and emulating. Some of his fans like me might decide to follow him.

As an ardent fan , I request you to publish the following,

AMIR KHAN LEAVING INDIA ?

Amir Khan and his wife Kiran Rao, suddenly find India unsafe to live, Kiran particularly scared and worried about the safety of their children. So, they have decided to settle down in a safe foreign country.

Many countries, Syria, Iraq, Belgium, Maldives and Pakistan have rushed with attractive offers — immediate citizenship, luxurious resort stay, all expenses paid .. in short a hon’ble state guest status. 24×7 security will be provided by ISIS Terrorist guards.

All countries have imposed only one condition. All the Khans in India should accompany him, including Sharu Khan and his wife Gowri, so that a Khan township is raised.

All the Khans are shortly meeting, with their families, to ckalk out the next course of action.

Once they decide, the Indian Govt have decided to offer free business class travel to all of them to their destination and a hearty VIP send off.

Every body has right to protest in a democratic country. What Amir khan told/protest is correct? if your answer is YES, then I can say those peoples are either involved or supporting for i) ISJK flags in Kashmir, ii) Mumbai attack, iii) Protest with Pakistan flag, iv) Flying Pakistani flags on home as a way of protest, to make this country more tolerable.

If you’re an actor and that too method actor, the public will never be able to tell whether your smiles or tears or fears are phony or real. More the method, more the phoniness. so for you to say that his views looked emotional and genuine and not calculated is dubious at best

The problem with the above is that popular shows like these produce further distrust towards doctors. Which results in more more unwarranted litigation for situations where there is actually no negligence. Which in turn results in practise of what is called “defensive medicine” by doctors. And this finally results in sub standard patient care.

2) Secondly he preached that doctors should not demand money, they should work for free. Arent they the same as other professionals? Isnt it holier -than- thou and double standards for him to demand charity of doctors when he himself is making crores out of each episode of that program? Does he make movies for charity? What right then has he to preach that other professionals should do that?

But then, this has nothing to do with what has happened now where my sympathies are totally with Aamir Khan. I also have liked all his movies.

@BR, The fact of the matter is, Aamir never gave a reason. He only said that he started sensing intolerance in the last six to eight months. And What the hell did his wife find in the newspaper? Not the news about the terrorist attacks in Udhampur and Gurdaspur, perhaps beef ban and the incidents that followed. He knew if he went into specifics, he will not be able to justify his grand statement on intolerance. That’s why i said his comments were dishonest and devilishly motivated.

chasul: Hello sir, Read your article ‘the importance of being honest’ in today’s edition. The way you have expressed your views is very impressive. I really liked your article a lot.
Exactly the approach of media has became as you described it . What happened to the people of our country! why do we waste our time and energy in these trifle issues! we should focus on doing something productive! In which direction are we going! what has happened to our mentalities! it really demotivates.

Here is what I think the thing is.. We are slowly losing the appetite for debate. We no longer talk about the issues that are raised but instantly get into psycho-analyzing the shit out of the messenger or indulge in inane whataboutery. When the issues themselves are only secondary to coming off as having ‘won’ the discussion, why even bother to check the original video for what he even said.

Kamal Vs Amir
I remember there being enough outrage on social media about the tribulations Kamal had to go thru. In fact, where there was no outrage, there was indifference. But I don’t remember it being this vitriolic against the actor.

Aarabi: Sir, The things you have put on the column heading, The imp of being honest, were really neutral and true to T. It was like pouring out what me and my friends discuss on these issues. The paragraphs were reflecting our thoughts in all manner. I just wanted to congratulate a kindred spirit. Hope this reaches you.

The Ghost Who Walks: No reason. It’s just that my usual posts don’t invite many email comments. People comment directly on the blog. But the op-ed pieces get a lot of feedback, and I thought it would add to the discussion.

To hell with Aamir. He is the last person who should be talking about tolerance

Despite roaring protests against Coca-Cola for using up all ground water in a Kerala village and the high toxic content in its soft drinks, Aamir continued to endorse the product for a decade until the company decided not to renew the contract. He never really thought about the intolerance his endorsements created in the minds of the villagers and their supporters. On the contrary, Amitabh Bachchan said last year that he stopped appearing for Pepsi after a school girl confronted him and asked why he promoted a drink her teacher had branded as poison. It will do a lot of good if he leaves the country

I understand and appreciate your sentiments. But I don’t agree with some of your opinions. As a liberal, I think, we have to hear ALL opinions and not just ones that we agree with. Those opposing Aamir may seem obnoxious to you, but they are entitled to express them. In the current set up, all the liberals are rushing to protect Aamir Khan by slamming those that oppose him. But these are voices too… that must be heard.

Speak. But speak of YOUR personal experiences. We had issue in bandra/juhu — all the posh areas of south bombay, where waiter/schoolteacher did this to our poor little Azad and we feel he should not grow up in this atmosphere. The way Bachchan did. After his accident there were comments made to little Abhishek (about his father’s death) that traumatised the little abhi so much that he became completely withdrawn. At this point, his parents sent him out of country in a boarding school. So parents do these things out of PERSONAL experiences. Being a celeb: it is your ONUS to NOT make incendiary, baseless statements that “we are living in fear in south bombay”, which is NOT the case.

Regarding rest of your article: I agree. When Lady Diana died, even though she was DIVORCED from the future king, even though she had MANY affairs and had died in her boyfriends arms (dodi), the English public day and night rattled the queen to such an extend that she HAD to come out and speak all nice things about Diana, even if she didn’t want to. So if I was Aamir/ SRK/ Kamal/ ARR, I would just do THAT. I have experienced/not experienced this, but since there are questions it would be good if the GOVT spokepersons spoke up and gave country assurance.

IF that is the narrative, I am all for it. If the narrative is “intolerance, intolerance”… than I find that beating the unpatriotic chest and creating more disturbance in the country. Also I often wonder why it is the ‘minorities’ that have all this issues. Why not Akshay Kumars of the world. I like how he conducts himself in public even though he is not “intellectual” like Aamir/SRK…

‘The Bihar results came out on 8 November. Today is 21 November. In the two weeks, not one award has been returned, there has been no controversy over any religious commitments, no talks about beef or any other kind of meat anymore. No one is rioting, no one is screaming intolerance, and there is peace in India. We are now discussing pay commissions and other routine stuff. Just sit back and think how the media and Congress manipulated the minds of the nation in the run up to the elections over those six weeks. Good to see that India has once again magically become tolerant and secular.”

India’s good again! Aamir Khan comments on intolerance debate after it’s been done and dusted

I agree 100 % with you, and thanks for writing this. I am angry and deeply pained by the barrage of anti Aamir messages everywhere, specially coming in whatsapp groups from family and friends I thought would know better. Argued with some of them, but they won’t stop coming. My NRI friends who left India for their own personal reasons suddenly have their patriotism hormones flaring up and have been deeply offended by Aamir’s statement.

None of them seem to get the meaning of intolerance, and neither does RGV, it seems. He tweeted that if three heroes are Khans, how can India be intolerant? Intolerance is not about supporting something we agree with. I support LGBT rights, that does not make me tolerant. Nobody forced people to see their movies, so by making them the top stars we have not become tolerant. Tolerance is, when we can accept a contrary view on things we feel strongly about, and disagree with them without ad hominem and casting aspersions.

That said, I think the comment by Aamir Khan about Kiran mentioning leaving the country was irresponsible. Firstly, it was probably pillow talk and secondly, it was something Kiran said. When you quote other people you shy away from the responsibility of explaining them and also you probably wont know the exact context and meaning in which they said it. He should have anticipated the effect this would have in the current climate. It ties with the worst prejudice that people have against Muslims. As a thinking person he should have been cautious.

“doctor says, “There is pollution in the city. Therefore your lungs…” And Anupam Kher cuts in angrily, “How dare you! This city has given you job, name, fame. How can you call it polluted? You traitor!!!” Moral of the story? Do not speak your mind in public. Be diplomatic, wave, sign autographs, keep smiling.”

That is not correct analogy. It would be Kiran is scared for little azad and wants to move out of the country. And Kher can also speak his mind as well as this is about freedom of speech for ALL and not just Aamir and Kiran. The correct reaction of Kher “wah bhai…you made SMJ… and now instead of helping clean up city or even moving out of mumbai… you are talking of LEAVING the country…wah. wah. Kya double standards hai. Haathi ke daath…”

It is very healthy in a democracy to have these discussions, including “move to bangladesh/pakistan” because that brings more points to forth? This blog post in bangladesh will get BR killed for instance. PK movie and such statements willl get aamir stoned to death or fatwa in arab countries. So we need to be grateful for what we have. Ability to discuss all this; write about it; think about it. That is what freedom is all about, no? Aamir could without fear say whatever he wanted to. And I too should be allowed to have the same freedom without fear.

Why should we be politically correct (mainly a big celebrity like him)? –

I believe your blog is an explanation in itself. This kinda measured/balanced writing, requires one main aspect which none of the main stream media possess (very sadly).. that is to take time to read (let alone infer) the whole and not just the potentially inflammatory part (sadly our media only wants to project this part for obvious reasons)…

am so happy you wrote this piece (was actually waiting for it) amidst many emotionally charged repartees…

having read the whole transcript, one part i differ from you is on this comment “that HE DID NOT SAY IT”.. true.. since it was his wife’s opinion during their private chat and not his own view it would have been better for him to have left it private (knowing what this TRP hungry media would do with it.. let alone FBians or tweeters).. after all he already answered very sensibly on the issue in his previous para itself… knowingly he created flutter amongst many..

Aside, if he was so sincerely worried about the situation in our country during the last few months, he could have easily got an one on one with the PM himself (would not have been a difficult one)..

P.S Fact that this entire selective journalism happened from the event celebrating best journalism in the country smacks of irony…

jitender: Dear MR. Bhardwaj, I just saw your article “Aamir Khan’s right to speak ” in The Hindu and found it extremely noticeable. I congratulate and thank you for bringing the issue to the people.with your views.

Rahul: Sir, You seem to think that only amir khan has the right to voice his opinions and not the people who find such opinion unpalatable. Amir khan said whatever he had to and people responded to him by voicing their opinions. Only you seem to be sitting in judgement saying that what the people are saying is unfair.

“A person who is holding a Koran and killing people may feel like he is doing an Islamic act,but as a Muslim I don’t feel he is doing an Islamic act…” How convenient!!!! Similarly why can’t people like you and other rationalists disassociate a BJP party member ,making provocative statements and thinking he is helping the party, from the party and consider those opinions purely as that persons own. Why do you hold the entire party responsible for the statements made by a fringe group of people?

According to you the ranting of fringe elements is no longer considered fringe but mainstream…what is the average Indian supposed to think?”. Why can’t you see the numerous Islamic terrorist acts happening in India and around the world from an “average Indians” perspective? Please enlighten us.

I think it is time you realize that the ill will he(AK) harbors towards Modi(though not a great fan of him) is making him say these irresponsible and silly statements. May be he thinks he is reaching out to the political forces ,with a certain ideology, he feels closer and social groups that harbour hatred for the administration in power. In such a scenario his statements only add fuel to fire.

It is imperative for political columnists to be more objective in their analysis in matters such as these. Thanks.

Overall, I liked the article and would go a step further and ask why do people work up such a hissy fit over an actor’s statement? Why does it bother people so much if he says he wants to leave India (which he didn’t quite say in as many words anyway)? Where does this same angry deshbakt go anyway when parents condition kids at an early age to do well in GRE TOEFL and move to greener pastures ASAP? I have no objection to that anyway but I don’t understand how people manage to reconcile that with hyper jingoism. If AK feels scared in this country or if he just finds it disgusting or even if he doesn’t at all and is just wanting to catch up with King Khan who aced him in the intolerance agenda by a mile, it is all his prerogative. By all means call him a publicity freak if that’s what you think he is. But threatening to slap him or filing a police complaint against him only, as he himself said, proves his point.

Now as for development being an abstract concept, I would have to disagree. Development is touching and feeling a word class metro service that shrinks a one hour painful commute between two of Mumbai’s most populated suburbs to a fifteen minute breeze. Of course duly built by the UPA govt; I am waiting with bated breath for signs of this development that our PM is busy pursuing. 😉 So if the common man finds development abstract and not something he is able to feel, it shows how poor our govt (and here I mean govt in general and not A particular govt) is in intervening in our lives to make a difference. Something on which Aakar Patel (another ‘sworn enemy’ of the bhakts) had written a pretty insightful piece a few months back.

The best part of this blog for me is the interaction. You cannot interact with someone who has responded on gmail and will never check this blog. So the huge number of email comments posted here (so many more than in the two links you have shared : was there an unprecedented response?), I felt, sort of distract and dampen conversation which gets lost in the flood of emails. Some of the thoughts expressed are interesting though. Perhaps you could choose the best email comments and club them together so that they do not distract too much from other conversations that may be going on in the blog?

On a lighter vein, could not help but notice that while the news paper movie reviews carry a photograph with your trademark 100 watt smile, this open- ed write up has an appropriately smile-less, slightly bemused looking photo, befitting the topic. Horses for courses, I guess 🙂 This left me wondering if they have a collection of photographs with a range of expressions to suit each article 🙂

“Barack Obama keeps assuring the American people. Expert followers of politics and foreign issues and economic development may have complaints about Obama’s tenure, but the average American, when faced with an incomprehensible tragedy, knows that his President will reach out and talk to him. The rest of the stuff is abstract, playing out in the corridors of power. This is what is concrete. This is what affects people at the ground level. This is what is important. And when the average Indian does not get this from his elected representatives, he turns confused, insecure, angry. He begins to wonder which the bigger instance of intolerance is: the Dadri lynching, or the half-hearted acknowledgements by the powers that be. He begins to speak out. This isn’t an attack on the government. This isn’t being unpatriotic. This is simply people giving vent to something they’re feeling very strongly about.”

THIS! Now, this is exactly what is happening. I could not agree more. You have nailed the point. Very well written and a super analysis.

Still, there are a couple of points of disagreement. But, the article, as a whole is so good, that I don’t want to bring the disagreement at all.

My problem is not that people are disagreeing with what Aamir said. It is that a) Aamir didn’t say he wanted to leave the country; he said his wife asked him if they should?

b) It was part of a longer answer and that one statement was taken out of context by the media and published as if the very next step that Aamir was going to take once he got off the podium was to buy a ticket for who-knows-where.

c) It is that some people seem to feel Aamir should go to Pakistan; why so? Why is it not okay – if he does want to leave India – for him to go to the US? Or Switzerland? Or heck, Timbuktu?

d) The whole argument that he will ‘learn’ if he goes to Pakistan… Really? Is that the best we can do? Is Pakistan or Syria or Saudi or Afghanistan the benchmark for what India should be like? Is it enough for us that we are ‘better than them?

e) It is that one of my friends, a US-educated PhD, thinks that ‘just the fact that Aamir can say such a thing and not be stoned means that India is a tolerant nation.’ Really? He should be grateful that he can voice his opinion? Isn’t that the bare minimum he can expect as a citizen of the world’s largest democracy? Or is that because he is Muslim, he should be grateful he’s allowed to speak at all?

So, to me, disagree with Aamir all you want; it is your right and your responsibility to do so. Discuss his view with him, debate all you want, provide a reasoned argument for why you think the way you do, and I’ll stoutly defend you, and your right to do any and all of these things.

But, to verbally trash him, to throw stones at his house, to threaten violence against him for voicing his wife’s concern, or his opinion for that matter; to say that he should go to Pakistan if he feels unsafe in this country (who the heck is anyone all to decide where he should go?); to doubt his patriotism or his ‘Indian-ness’… well, hey, congratulations! You just proved his point.

And right here, right now, I will place the blame for this unholy fiasco right where it belongs: on the media, my erstwhile profession, that cherry picked one statement from a long interactive session, blew it up – out of context – and painted it to look like Aamir was in imminent danger of leaving the country, and fed off the social media frenzy that they aided and abetted and encouraged and publicised. I blush with shame for what my profession has turned into – sharks during their feeding frenzy show less blood lust than today’s so-called media does. (And that’s a rant for another day!)

Thanks for this article, Brangan. Thanks for a balanced viewpoint, and for sounding the voice of reason.

I agree with Lonely Liberal. The mollycoddling of AK is annoying. Just like media personnel try to mollycoddle Rahul Gandhi. Is he such a child? Or a precious bit of China that you can’t toss around for fear that he’ll break?

Yes, some of the discourse is rude, but hey, most of the discourse on the internet is. And if people chose to not buy products he endorses due to his views, I think that’s fair. He is, after all being paid to attach his perceived credibility to draw in buyers. Now if the same buyer finds him less worthy of their respect due to his statement and views, that is fair, I think. After all, I love Agatha Christie’s work, but if I find an instance of something I dislike mirrored in her writing (like viewing non-Europeans as needing to be civilized, or just disliking Maggie noodles!), my admiration of her will be tempered. Even to a point that I just stop reading her altogether. And I don’t think Christie’s expectation that I not change my views on her or not share them with others would be unfair (provided she had such an opinion). And if people tried to support her on this point, I would not welcome that because it goes against something I believe (aka that Maggie is likeable, to continue my previous example).

And people supporting AK including the Barkha Dutt and Ilk are equally vociferous, at least online. So, they should stop crying foul.

Have to disagree with you here, BR. If the loony right is pulled up (and rightly so) for making irresponsible statements that can damage the delicate fabric of unity in the society and seeing communal ghosts where none exist, the loony left (yup turns out there is such a class too) have to pulled up as well for the exact same reasons. You can’t get away citing freedom of expression in one case. Yes, the loony right maybe actually members of the parliament with state resources at their disposal – which makes it scary, but Aamir is no less – he is a leading actor with a huge clout and a powerful medium at his disposal, and to add to it the carefully cultivated image of a thinking man’s actor with social responsibilities. Any statement from people with such responsibility needs to be guarded, well thought out, and importantly substantiated.

Where is this ghost of intolerance that is seemingly present everywhere and growing alarmingly? Nor does any nation wide data prove it. So where exactly is it? Why is no one claiming so substantiating their claims? I, my family, friends, all common citizens don’t see it. I live in a very middle class area where there are equal number of Muslims (maybe more) as compared to Hindus. And there is absolutely no change to anything. We all go about our lives as it were, sharing sweets on functions, greeting each other everyday etc.

(stark contrast this, with greater issues like gender imbalance, corruption etc. which have been proven with solid data and being felt by everyone everyday)

Having said that, the personal attacks on him and his wife (or even snapdeal) are completely unwarranted. But unavoidable nevertheless – knowing what an emotional populace we have always been. As a society have a long way to go before we can engage in healthy debates and discourses that doesn’t involve emotion and complete loss of objectivity. The rot will need to be fixed – starting from our very bigoted, immature mainstream media 😦

A lot of people commenting on the issue do not seem to have seen the actual interview. Besides, I think a lot of us are getting the idea of patriotism mixed. Patriotism isn’t about loving the ruling party, its about loving the country. One can disagree with the former and still be the latter.

Blah blah blah, cherry picking, selective sharing, anecdotal, whatever. Also, this is not the greatest hits of evils, sure we have misogyny, corruption, nepotism whatever, communal and religious intolerance may not be in your face (lucky you), but it is not not a problem, we don’t have to assign it a waiting number.

In general:
I am really not in the mood for pulling up scholarly articles and references for my beliefs, and I don’t particularly care to engage in a debate here or anywhere else, so yes, consider this an irritated drive by comment.

For those who keep yelling about freedom of speech, please consider that defending speech coming from those who are marginalized and those who define the norm or the status quo is NOT the same thing. One has the effect of chilling dissent, the other does not. Figure out which is which, IDGAS.

BR: This is why I love reading you. But I will say this, even in a place as inclusive as this, I had to think twice before posting. On Facebook, forget about it. I am staunchly Hindu and proud of it, love my culture, my heritage, my family, my traditions, but if I say jack against the grain, I get asked to leave to Pakistan. I don’t like this climate.

So what if a mother and a wife is afraid of the perceived growing intolerance. Is the way to disagree with her and her husband really a shouting match drowning her voice out with invective? Isn’t the reaction itself just proving her right?

tonks: About the comments, I like to consolidate them in one place, and this seems the most logical place. Besides, even in other long threads, it’s not as if everyone “discusses.” Many of them just post something and scoot.

It’s just that there’s been so much feedback for this article (as opposed to the ones whose links I posted above) that it looks like a lot — but I have always posted email comments out here 🙂

(Also, @AnuWarrier: thank you for crystallizing everything I would have said had I not been typing in a red haze of caffeine deprived irritation so eloquently and compassionately. Had I stopped to read your comment I would have just typed “What she said,” and added a sassy gif or something.)

@Lonely Liberal: you have captured the essence of liberalism so well in that comment. While being liberal doesn’t have to mean offering the other cheek after a slap, currently majority of liberal voices have become as fundamentalist as the other side.

sriharsha bsm: u have given an over all scenario that took place concerning the issue. I believe that the social network is all about virtuality where people form opions purely based on others (posts or news feeds) might have triggered the issue. good piece of work sir. please keep going.

Chandrakant: Sir, I am Chandrakant, daily reader of the The Hindu newspaper. I read your todays article ‘The importance of being honest’ in The Hindu. It’s nice article and I totally appreciate with you. You put the reality very smoothly. I am very thankful for your such precise writing. Keep writing for us.Best luck Sir! Thank you Sir!

Ramkrishnan: Dear Mr. Baradwaj, I read your article in the Hindu dated 25.11.15 on the above issue and on comments made by Mr. Amirkhan.

Very very good article. Keep writing such nice articles. Only people like you are light at the end of tunnel for us.

What is the use of education our people have if we could not think of the right to express either casually in a moment of lack of control over tounge or otherwise. Feel sad of intolerance of these people over intolerance. Then what to say of illiterate people! Pray God for better sense.

Ravi Chaudhary: i am not a columnist and certainly not as qualified as you are, but i am concerned about why newspapers like hindu and IE are continuously giving the only one perspective. my first view is regarding social media if amir has the right to speak so as i am and lot of other people out there, but problem is, they are many in nos may be thousand or lacs so the impact comes from the collective voice and not because they are hawks.if a person is blasting himself and want to impose sharia how is sharia is not the part of islam the truth is the so called self proclaimed intellectuals

are forcing opinions on us it is good to criticize the govt but not for the shake of criticism and when the same amir in walk the talk praising the environment suddenly country became intolerant. the diff between u people and us are u dont have the guts to say the truth that offcourse all muslims are not terrorists but some of them are if the terrorist are misguided then how the lynching im dadri is not the act of misguded people.the writers like you are instilling anger in the youth of this country

when someone prodly say i m a hindu then he becomes communal and every body claps when srk says i m khan.this biased and being selective and to pick and choose is the main reason behind why the youth is feeling the heat,u reported dadri lynching but u dont report the 100 of innocent people beaten by police. u also tv media also give one perspective .a hindu recently killed in aligarh but we didnt see anu hue and cry why ,because to see progressive in society what u need to do is ignore hindus talk about particular community talk biased openions in the name of freedom of exp when confronted by others paint them as hawkish you are also intolerant in accepting other perspective and last but not the least amir should be sued by not maintain the condns of contract for incredible india compaign he contradicted what he advt for.if we are biased then u also are guilty for the same …no offence ..art 19(1) gives me also the right to speak may mind.

Mohan Nadimpalli: Dear Mr.Bhardawj Rangan, This is with reference to your article on “Amirkhan-intolerance-honest opinion” appeared in “The Hindu’,26/11/2015 .Let me make clear i am not connected to any political party.

Your article reflects without any ambiguity that you support so called the secularism. You should have asked a question to Mr.Amir Khan-

“When your wife feels that their children’s future in the country is so fearsome then why it did not occur to their (Mr.Khan and his wife) minds when 4 year, 3 year children were raped and murdered? Why should they worry only when the news media like your ‘The Hindu” and the English TV channels went on shouting about the Dari lynching?

Your article says “…. he replied, “A person who is holding a Koran and killing people, he may feel [he] is doing an Islamic act, but as a Muslim I don’t feel he is doing an Islamic act… He is a terrorist and we should recognize him as a terrorist. My problem is not just with the ISIS, but it is with that kind of thinking… This extreme thinking is what I worry about.”

Then you should have posed a question to Mr Amir Khan ” When some one commits a crime like Dadri Lynching why not you treat it as crime and it should be treated just like that and stringent action must be taken against the criminals. Does not the same logic hold good when you say he is a terrorist and he should be treated as terrorist? Why people should link it to the religion and treat the whole country is under turmoil?

Now another question – Almost every day there has been a news about rapes in some part or other in the country. Please note now a days the rape victims are 2 year old kids to 60+ year old women. You should have asked people who did return awards , including Mr.Khan, why are they not feeling horrible under the present dispensation, as their wives and female children feel insecure because of uncontrolled rapes?

Please note such questions, covering many many areas of social maladies, could be raised and 1.25 people of the country should air their feelings of insecurity.

The problem with the columnists, writing for the hindu (including the chief editor) think they alone are intellectuals and speak only truth and 1.25 billion people of the country are unintelligent and non secular.

Some people are habituated to live like parasites (in every sense) for obvious reasons and such people have been creating problems in the society, and some people of the media are not exceptions.

Hope you would agree with my ” HONEST FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION”

sincerely,
n.l.mohan (65+, retired teacher and researcher of a reputed university)
( i was born secularist in true sense)

in this article Mr. Baradwaj justifying Amir khan by saying that he just honestly express himself but the same honest expression by Anupamkher look like a jock to him that is full of Hippocratic thoughts

in this article Baradwaj said that a conman man can condemn the govt and i agree with him which we actually do but he said the same thing amir khan did so it is ok but he forget that common people do these talking to friends and family not to public where whole nation listening them as a common man rights amir khan already did that thing when he talked about this to his wife or if he want more discussion then he could talked to his friends but when your talking at the national platform then you should mind your words b/c at that time you are influencing the people. even it is our fundamental duty under article 51 c that uphold and protect sovereignty, unity and integrity of India. Mr Baradwaj give it the name being honest but he forgot that you can not honest every time b/c freedom come with restriction if that is not the case then everybody will abuse each other and give it the name of being honest.

another example mr. Baradwaj gave that if can talk on female infenticite then why not on intolerance but he forgot that amir khan talked on it with solution and in a way that the problem could solve, just think if he said that in India females are not safe so i will not give birth to a girl then could it be a honest expression???? no !!!! so like this if talked about intolerance in a critic way instead of just leaving the country that could be better.

i am not saying that his intention were wrong but i a way you try to defend him that he is absolutely right and did not make any mistake that is also very wrong

Reg. Editing: I prefer your parting shot soooooooooooooo much better. I don’t want to diss your editing team and sure I do understand why they preferred to edit it out. But your way of putting things to more clear and quite frankly that punch was required there.

Reg. the dumping of comments through email here: Well, I have to admit that this is a particularly good piece and the comment section is the sort we find in a random facebook entry. During the previous instances, the emails seemed to add to the general thread. This time they seemed to have drowned the normal conversational tone of this blog’s comment section.

Reg. Agatha Christie and Maggie Noodles: Why AC and why MN? I understand the whole concept that people start consuming a product say Lux or Coke or whatever based on who endored it. But I have until now believed that the Celebrity is supposed to give only the first push for the first cake of Lux soap we buy. Later, the Cake of soap will have to sell itself through its own quality. But to think whether AChristie liked Maggi noodles or not should have any say when I read ,say, Sad Cypress. It sounds positively weird to me.

Note: As a teenager, I almost stopped reading The Moonstone by Willkie Collins because of the Rasicm. I found the rasicm in Gone with the Wind pretty jaring too. But I would not stop reading Willie Collins because I did not like the brand of Cigarette he smoked or something. For one thing, P.G.Wodehouse has all his sympathetic characters drinking too much and smoking too much. That never took away my enjoyment of his work. Enid Blyton and Mark Twain and Plum and pretty much all of them had Rasict points of view. After cutting slack for the times they lived in, I just go on with their work. This is more so as Agatha Christie wrote whodunnits. Not liking Richard Dawkin’s work when you a creationist is something I would be able to understand better.

Reg. Mrs. Aamir Khan: I feel so sorry for her. One more hit movie and the whole nation is going to forgive AK. But that lady, she was just wondering something aloud in the privacy of her house. She will never be forgiven. Poor thing.

yuvaraj m: The recent developments of intolerance from Aamir Khan is shocking to any secular intellectual indian only. Haven’t country faced any riots,communal clashes ever?Well then at that time why Aamir khan had not feelings of insecurity ? In Mumbai alone there were many terrorist attacks,but he has not suffered from any. That time he was confident of his security.Isn’t it surprising?Do the BJP is really anti Muslim ?Even when the congress was ruling party at centre the notorious muzzaffarnagar communal riots may not be heard by Aamir khan. It ridiculous that anti- BJP parties are wasting no time to jeopardize it.AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal also backing it.But Mr Kejriwal is your Delhi totally free from attacks or harassment on women?Even though with presence of strict and severe norms against the culprits , the exploitation of women is still heard.Don’t you think that you cannot control the each and every citizens actions? The same logic is need to be applied in this case also. Due to a few fellow countrymen’s anti -secular activities the government is projected as anti-Muslim.Take example of your “The Hindu daily” is that name suggests pro Hindu or anti-Muslim?

Moral of this story is that it is the some individuals who are doing such inhumane acts and the whole government should not be accounted for it.Nonetheless the obstacles of development are having more business to do with this and we expect this winter session they repeat the same.

Vasudevan Venkatraman: Dear Sri Baradwaj Rangan, I read your interesting piece The Importance of being honest’ inThe Hindu’ dated 26th November. I gave my comments underneath it, but probably the moderator found it offensive! I am repeating the same hereunder and you will certainly find that it is not offensive! May be the moderator has a set of rules which makes my comments offensive. Hope you do get to read it without anyone deleting it!

Quote:

Dear Mr.Rangan, I certainly appreciate one being honest, but the problem comes when one decides to be selectively honest! The rub lies therein. When speaking of intolerance, Aamir Khan specifically mentioned the last six to eight months. I find this blatantly dishonest. Born in 1953 in Hyderabad and having seen many communal riots in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad, I have to disagree with this time span. I have lived through so much animosity in our society, but only now I suddenly find the conscience of so many celebrities waking up. Well, certainly the society at large could not have turned intolerant overnight! So one certainly has to question the timing and the motive of these celebrities and I for one question it. Coming to PK, will any of the Khans ever make a movie mocking at their own community the way they did in PK? After all, as you say it is just entertainment. Also, OMG was a much better movie and handled the same subject much more sensibly!

Unquote:

I also take this opportunity to quote Taslima Nasreen and the angst of a woman, a fan of Aamir Khan, on the issue which I found to be interesting. Of course, Taslima Nasreen, the Bangladeshi writer, was hounded out of West Bengal by secular parties ruling there and also beaten up by MIM goons in Hyderabad during the secular Congress rule. It is very pertinent to point this tolerance before quoting her:

Quote:

Aamir Khan you earned 300 crores by mocking Hindu gods in PK. If you would have done this in Pakistan, Bangladesh or on Muslim religion you would have been hanged and still you say India is intolerant.

Unquote:

The angst of a woman, an Aamir Khan fan follows:

Quote:

An open letter to Janab Aamir Khan:

Janab Aamir Khan,

I am an ordinary Indian citizen and an avid movie-goer. You are a superstar in a country where the majority of movie-goers are Hindu. For years, we have spent our money to buy tickets for your movies. It is our money that has made you what you are today. We clapped when as ACP Ajay Rathore, you destroyed a sweet-talking Gulfam Khan in Sarfarosh. We cheered when as Bhuvan, you played the winning shot in Lagaan. We cried when as a sensitive art teacher, you made us root for Ishaan Awasthi in Taarey Zamin Par.

A couple of generations before you, an Yusouf Khan had to become a Dilip Kumar tobe accepted and a Mahajabeen Bano had to reinvent herself as Meena Kumari. Not you though. Neither you, nor your contemporaries had to hide your identity to be successful. You became a star in a new India. An India, where only your first name mattered. We loved you because you were Aamir, a brilliant actor. Neither your last name mattered to us, nor your faith.

But yesterday, you proved to us that for you and your wife at least, it is your last name that matters more than anything else. Your name is Khan and you Sir, are a hypocrite. You did not scream intolerance when your city burned at the hands of some of your co-religionists. Your wife did not feel insecure when a mammoth crowd of some of your co-religionists attended the funeral of a hanged terrorist. You were silent even when a mob from Reza Academy kicked and destroyed a national memorial and manhandled female cops. But now, suddenly your wife feels insecure in India and wants you to move out.

If I WERE indeed intolerant, I would suggest you move to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the safest place on earth, where Begum Kiran Rao can feel absolutely secure inside her abaya and your little son can grow up watching public executions in a Riyadh square. But I am not going to do that. As a tolerant Indian, the only thing I can and WILL do is to make sure that not even one rupee of my hard-earned money goes towards buying tickets for your movies.

Thanks for the disappointments.

Regards,
(…….)

Unquote:

I have not disclosed the name of the middle class woman, as I am not sure whether she would like it to be mentioned. It came in my whatsapp and I am sharing it with you as a rejoinder to your write-up. I have nothing personal against anyone, including Aamir Khan, a superstar in a country of 80% Hindus who finds at odds with an intolerant society suddenly!

I hope you get to read this email. By the by, I enjoy reading your film reviews and other write-ups. As I read three leading English newspapers, I get ample opportunities and as a fan of Kamal Hasaan I really enjoyed your series of articles on him.

Srikanti Subrahmanyam: Dear Sri Baradwaj, Your article in THE HINDU captioned as ‘The importance of being honest’ makes a dishonest defense of Aamir’ s utterances . I would counter you with a single argument though almost the whole article is based on pre- conceived views . You termed PK as’entertainment’, ‘make believe’, ‘sugar coated’ ,’made us laugh’ and so was a huge hit and we accepted it.

But pray tell me sir if a movie is made on any other religion particularly our predominant minority religion on similar lines, would it not have raised a hell and people of your ilk would have rushed out with daggers drawn out? Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine’ fate is an illustration.

My letter published in today’s THE HINDU on Aamir Khan’s views and your article conveniently edits the point I made above besides censoring the contrary views to the editorial on the subject. With such intolerance, you speak of intolerance elsewhere in the country of people mostly belonging to uneducated and rural strata. I am reproducing the letter addressed by me yesterday to THE HINDU and kindly see in what form it was edited and printed today omitting inconvenient words though they were totally relevant to the editorial and contents of your article and noway can be considered as generating ill -will.

Mr Baradwaj, two generations of our family had been ardent and diehard readers of the paper but it has sadly touched abysmal depths of journalistic bias. We read you people not because of your fair minded news but due to a total vacuum in alternate reading. In a nutshell , secularists of pro minority more so of Muslims have made it easy for parties like BJP to flourish and capture power since for decades a feeling of total neglect of majority populace ,already ravaged by disastrous partition fallout and consequent distrust ,by the media and ‘ secularists’ has bred sympathy to a party espousing Hindu interests.

The Editor, The Hindu,
Chennai-600002

Sir,

As much as Aamir Khan has a right to speak, his fellow citizens too have the same right to critique his views (“Aamir Khan”s right to speak”,Nov26.) Even a “fleeting” thought of leaving the country under” perceived” lack of security and justice speaks very poorly of the actor”s thought processes. A rudimentary principle for anyone is to strongly stand against adversity if any but not to flee it .Sections of intelligentia ,artists and media never reconciled to BJP especially Narendra Modi coming to power, are cleverly manipulating the isolated and unfortunate incidents occurring in the country . It woud have been a better course for Aamir Khan and likes of him in the elite public life to question and agitate why the state governments concerned namely UP and Karnataka are not taking any action against the culprits and account them to justice. Aamir Khan should also know that Bollywood actors of yore had to sport Hindu names to gain foothold in the industry despite histrionic capabilities. This is no longer the case now with umpteen number of Khans ruling the filmdom. A case of intolerance,Aamir?

And for Baradwaj Rangan”s article(The importance of being honest,Nov 26), we are still waiting to see if any “make believe” , “entertainment” and “sugar coated pill” movie can be made on other religions and the same will receive an enthusiastic reception akin to PK.

LonelyLiberal “As a liberal, I think, we have to hear ALL opinions and not just ones that we agree with.”

I am confused by your comment. How will one filter comments that they disagree with even before hearing them. I am not aware of such a filter. Obviously one can only disagree after one hears something.

“Those opposing Aamir may seem obnoxious to you, but they are entitled to express them”

This is a straw man. Nobody is asking for a gag order to be put on the intolerant voices. I think you are confusing freedom of speech with according equal respect to all opinions. The former most people support, but the latter is nonsensical.

I read that and alarm bells started ringing in my head, so I looked up CB`s comment, which is this

“Ok,wrong to label Islam as violent after stray terror attack. But why did you label my entire country intolerant after a few stray incidents?”

This is a straw man. Nobody has “labelled the entire country intolerant”. They have said intolerance is rising in India. Surely there is a difference between saying “HIV infection is rising in India” and “India is HIV positive”, no ?

To Srikanti Subrahmanyam Raju Hirani who is a hindu. Why people like you are not directing their anger against him? Is it because he is a hindu. Aamir Khan merely acted and he did not conceive PK. He is not even the messenger. He just acted. Why all anger against him just because he is a muslim?

Paresh Rawal said far worse things about hindu gods in OMG but there is no protest against him as he is doubly guarded by being a hindu and also an elected member of BJP.

I’m sorry, but you have totally missed the boat. Did not have time to go through all the comments, so forgive me if I am arachufying and already over-archufied maavu- but here is my take

1) Aamir Khan and his holier-than-thou, preachy, pedantic, i’m-busy-setting-up-my-political-career nonsense is all well within his rights, which he is exercising quite well. We are also well within our rights to call him on his bullshit. He is typical of many left-wing Hollywood morons, who think they have it figured out, and have an unyielding need to patronize us with their politics.

2) Freedom of speech is in essentially freedom to express outrage- sticks & stones and all that jazz – freedom of speech is freedom from persecution- either directly by the government or in-directly by the government refusing to enforce law and order when various fringe groups make threats. If the latter is considered, we know which groups make the most threats and how our various political parties deal with it(incidentally A.R.R recently said that he agreed with Aamir but with a twist that was pretty cheeky- never thought he had it in him). Did Kiran Rao/ Aamir express this fear when after Bal Thakceray’s death some girl was arrested for making some stupid facebook post? No, no, no they felt perfectly safe then, when such an incident took place right at their doorstep, cause if we know one thing about Mumbaikars, they really have to guts to give it to the Sena, right?

3) Is the PM expected to make a statement for every crime that takes place? Like our previous PM who made “courageous remarks” after every terrorist attack?

4) Law and Order is fundamentally a state level responsibility – not central.

5) “There is certainly more fear today, in the common man, than there was even a decade ago.” – When you talk of the common man – which one exactly are you talking about? I have not met a single person in Chennai who is living in fear- this from all social stratas and religious backgrounds.

6) It is impossible to blame the government, without being politically motivated – but whats wrong with that – everyday I get hundreds of forwards in whatsap making fun of and extolling the PM, his opposition, hell even on the Bihar Cabinet recently. Its all fair game. There is nothing wrong in a politically motivated post if you are open about it. I’m sure we readers can figure out bias if we detect it.

7) We intellectuals are comfortable only after we analyze(over?) anything we don’t understand, as if that means anything. The PMs silence on most of these issues can be attributed to various things.

a) He condones it- he believes it to be the right thing

b) He does not want to alienate his core base – which will essentially help him the next time he tries to return to office.

c) He just doesn’t see what its go to do with him and his agenda for the country.
How is this different from any politician/party in India? This is nothing new in this to get all ruddy faced- its just a different party catering to its grassroots base. People have died, met with tragic consequences courtesy of every Government(political party) all over the world. Why so serious?

8) If you still think Freedom of speech in India is under threat, just ask Arun Shourie. I remember how the Dixie chicks were treated in the US of A when they publicly criticised Bush in a concert in London. People started burning their CDs and calling them traitors and what not- we are talking about the same US of A, the pinnacle of individual freedom. What did Bush do? Did he condemn these acts by his supporters? Did he defend freedom of speech? Did he enforce any kind of law and order to protect the rights of the businesses that were being affected? He casually said that they have to deal with it- Freedom is a two way street. Well, someone forgot to tell Aamir.

Just thought I’d share something here that gives a different perspective on this subject that I came upon fb (in a post that seems to be going viral) by Dr Sofiya Rangwala – a Bangalore based Skin care specialist. I admit I had a moment of doubt but her fb profile seems genuine enough. This is the post :

Amidst a fake atmosphere of Intolerance being created in India, in the last 1 month, I owe my version of what I, a Muslim lady, living and working in India feel like. This has been due from me since sometime. Now, I feel the water has gone above the head and I too need to share my views. So, here it is.

I am a Muslim lady, a practicing dermatologist by profession and I run my own high- end laser skin clinic, in Bangalore. I was brought up in Kuwait and at the age of 18, came to India to pursue medical education. I decided to stay back in India while almost all my friends left India for greener pastures. Not even once did I consider that being a Muslim could create a problem for me, as my sense of nationalism held me back to my roots and so here I am, serving my country since the last 20 years.

I studied in Manipal, Karnataka. I lived alone like all students do. While I was in college, all my professors were Hindus and almost all the people who I would interact with were Hindus as well. There is not a single incident when anyone showed partiality towards me based on my gender or religion. Every single one of them was kind and in fact sometimes, I felt as though they made an extra effort to make feel like I was one of them. I am ever so grateful to all of them for making my life in Manipal as comfortable as it could get.

After leaving Manipal, I relocated to Bangalore with my husband. By then I had been married and so we decided to make our life in Bangalore. There is a reason, why we chose Bangalore and here is where I will talk about my husband. He is a Muslim too, with a very typical first name, Iqbal. He is an aerospace engineer with MTech from IIT-Chennai and PhD from Germany. His profession takes him to the most highly secured organizations of India, like DRDO, NAL, HAL, GTRE, ISRO, IISc, BHEL; you name it and be assured that he has visited all of them without any hassles. Not even once has been stripped off or asked for special security clearance or any such bias has been shown towards him. And NO, things have not changed even after Modi gov came into power. Things are in fact more disciplined and streamlined even at government organizations, from what I hear from my husband. As a matter of fact, Iqbal has been completely stripped each time he traveled to US and was under secret surveillance while he was doing his PhD in Germany, after the 9/11 attacks on US. We literally received a letter from the German government that he has been cleared and is not anymore under suspicion. Talk about Muslim paranoia! Its very understandable too due to the current situations in the world. My husband is highly respected and loved by the people he works with, and all of them happen to be Hindus. None of this has changed even in recent times, so Intolerance is just a word for us on a practical basis.

I opened my clinic last year, just before Modi gov came into power. I am a law-abiding citizen and I file my taxes like service tax on a monthly basis. I have never indulged in any activities, which could put me into any kind of trouble. I am comfortably running my clinic, which is doing very well, thanks to all my patients and clients, who all happen to be Hindus. A handful of my patients are from other communities. My entire staff is Hindu, and believe me when I say that they take better care of my clinic than I could any day! I interact with bankers, government officers and with so many people on a daily basis. Not even once in the last 20 years, did I have the need to even think of leaving India! My entire family lives abroad and all that I need to do is just decide that I don’t want to stay here. I have open offers of opening clinic in Kuwait, which would fetch me huge amount of revenue and yet why should I stay in India, if I am not happy and if I am facing any kind of bias?

In Kuwait, we are considered as NOBODY. Yes, despite being in Kuwait for the last 40 years or so, my family is still considered as expatriates, with no rights. We need to renew our resident permit periodically and the laws there constantly keep changing, making the life of expatriates only harder. We have to strictly comply with their rules and laws, which is fine but we are openly discriminated. They consider Asians as third grade people, while giving preference to their citizens, Arabs and Whites. We are not unhappy there but we have no sense of belonging either. At least, I never had and never have even when I visit Kuwait now. We are Muslims in a Muslim country, and yet we are considered as Indians with no special regards. I figured long back ago, that India is the only country, where I will have a sense of belonging. You are an Indian-American in US, Indian-Canadian in Canada, Indian-British in UK and so on but only in India you are an Indian. Period. Rest can say whatever they want and defend their choices but this is a fact. You can only feel at home, in your own home. I have lived in different places and everywhere I stand out but in India. No body in India asks me, ‘Are you an Indian?’, and this is what makes all the difference. a

So, what are these celebrities ranting about? An ordinary citizen like my husband and I are not facing any such issues, then what have they faced? Why is Amir Khan’s wife, Kiran Rao feeling so afraid? They are prominent people, living in posh localities, their children study in the best of schools and they have personal security escorting them at all times. I travel alone everyday and yet don’t feel afraid. I want to know as a responsible citizen, from Amir Khan and Shahrukh Khan as well, why did they make such irresponsible statements and spoil the image of the 13 crores of Muslims in India? Who the hell are they to make public statements based on their personal perception? Who gave them the liberty to tarnish the image of my country on an International level, that Muslims are not safe in India? How dare Pakistan invites them to stay in Pakistan? I feel hurt when I read the statements of my Hindu friends on Muslims. I feel afraid that they are being pushed to the limit and the tolerance and acceptance that I have enjoyed all these years, might just vanish! I feel afraid that my own people might shun me and I may get alienated in my own country, because of a handful of ungrateful bunch of fools! How long can I expect majority of Hindus to tolerate this nuisance? It’s high time that Muslims understand the value of the freedom and acceptance that we enjoy in India and if not, I pray that my Hindu fellow citizens continue to keep their patience.

About my AC and MN example, I was being facetious in my choice of example, of course, as I did not want to bring in the more serious, and possibly contentious criticisms of Christie’s writing like the racism and anti-semitism some readers find in her books. So I picked Maggie Noodles (because I remembered seeing them in a grocery store recently). What I was trying to say, quite ineptly it appears, is that there is no objective rule or a right or wrong way for how we, as consumers, decide to buy a product because of a celebrity’s name attached to it. The whole idea that because AK (or his PR) puts out some stories about being socially-responsible, one has to buy his products because that is what good, sane people do is weird, too. A consumer can choose to decide they want to purchase AK-endorsed products, or not. While some were possibly drawn to buying his movies or other products post-Satyamev Jayate, the same could be disgusted by his recent comments, and choose to explicitly boycott his work and products. I don’t think that is so weird either. Its like both are two sides of the same coin to me. Others might, of course, not care about who peddles a product, much less what such a celebrity has to say.

And I agree with another poster about how the loony left needs to be reigned in just as well. I couldn’t help but be appalled at its most vociferous rep, Barkha Dutt, when she chose to ignore the most important credentials of an economist, and focus on how he was a “NaMo supporter”. I couldn’t believe such a person got trained to be a journalist (I thought news, in particular, required one to be as objective as one can be and provide information, and not one’s own views, except in editorials, etc) like one finds in AlJazeera or CBC.

Also, you have posted the email from one of your readers who quoted Taslima Nasreen as saying “Aamir Khan you earned 300 crores by mocking Hindu gods……”. This is a glaring HOAX being circulated by vested FANATICS.

I have exposed the same in my facebook post:

Taslima Nasreen’s tweet about PK was way back in Dec 2014:

If PK was made in B'desh or Pakistan,producer,director & actor Amir Khan would have been killed or in prison by now.Good that it's in India!

I didn’t have anything to add after Anu’s excellent and spot-on comment, but I so wish you had kept the original ending to the first para. It’s far more evocative of how unhinged the reaction has been – as if Aamir had actually defiled not just the flag but them! That has been the most mystifying, maddening and terrifying aspect of the whole tempest to me.

I had been to america so many times and I never faced any discrimination. What those are complaining about? The blacks are tops in many sports evnts and music and dance. The whites allowed Michael Jackson to reach the heights of fame and William sisters to win those matches.

Because this is concrete. This could happen to us. And we need someone at the top, a parental figure, to assure us that this was wrong, that this will not happen to us.

Isnt that stretching it too far. Maybe you want assurance. You want to listen to a parental figure. Why rub your views on the rest of us. For most of the rest, the Constitution is solid enough. Why are we allowing this issue to be kept alive for so long? And, we did hear people other than the PM commenting on it. Why make it your fetish to listen only to the PM. Surely, that’s not even conventional given that our PMs for the last decade or so were silent about most things. But life did move on didn’t it.

No one says “India is free of communal ism” Communal tinderboxes have always existed and will do. Irrational voices have always existed and will do. Yes, as a country we need to continue to fight them, as we always have. What’s got people goat is this whole recent din about ‘intolerance growing alarmingly in the last few months’ while ground experience of most of us and the data (http://www.newslaundry.com/2015/10/14/think-india-has-become-more-communal-under-modi-the-numbers-will-disappoint-you/) clearly point otherwise. So it makes the whole thing very suspicious that it is all politically motivated targeting the present government. And when a supposedly neutral, objective person like Aamir jumps in to join the chorus without substantiating his remarks, naturally all hell breaks loose.

I am no Bhakt. I say, if one man angers you so much, express your dissent by all means through the ballot box (like Bihar did) but dont do it by projecting a wrong picture of growing communalism when it is not. It does as much to polarize and vitiate the country as much as a statement from Sadhvi Prachi does.

(1) It is standard practice while writing (for a publication, or even generally) that the “royal we” is used at times, instead of “I.” It refers to a populace somewhere between “I” and “everyone in the world,” the populace that shares these views. Surely this is not the first time you are encountering this.

Whose says Aamir can’t speak his mind? He has.. and why should I agree with him? Such incidents such as Dadri are terrible.. but such things have always happened in India. India has not suddenly become different because of 1 dadri incident. In fact the number of communal incidents have come down… there is no need to resort to hyperbole.. In fact a lot of Indians feel such incidents are being used by the political opponents of Modi (whose vast victory the liberals have never accepted) to create a fake narrative of intolerance.

but dont do it by projecting a wrong picture of growing communalism when it is not. It does as much to polarize and vitiate the country

How do you know there is no growing communal unrest? Will you only acknowledge growing communal tension when every single of street of India is burning with the fires of religious riots? And should we wait that long?

It’s not just about Dadri. From the beginning, the present dispensation has been pursuing its Hindu project in different ways, some insidious and some blatant. The favourite excuse of the Bhakts is that it is the Congress that introduced bans on cow slaughter in various states. Sure, but the consumption of beef was still not banned in either Maharashtra or Haryana before BJP-led govts were installed in both states. That’s not at all. If Congress loves Muslim appeasement, this particular Modi-led BJP loves Jain appeasement. A ban on consumption of meat during Parayushan was either extended or imposed in more parts of Mumbai and its extended suburbs, satellite towns, etc. It goes on. At a posh restaurant in the Powai suburb of Mumbai (which is full of expensive restaurants) last Sunday, they imposed dry day on account of Karthika ekadashi. Dry days being imposed under statute is nothing new. But in Mumbai the booze flows just the same on dry days too, even on I Day. But not last Sunday, alcohol was not served. Don’t be surprised if the number of dry days multiply exponentially under some or the other pretext.

So let me be presumptuous enough to warn you and other folk who are still inclined to be sympathetic to the current govt: if you value your civil liberties, speak up now and don;t bury your head in the sand. I understand that people desperately want this govt to succeed, thanks to the failed UPA-II govt, and I too would like to see it succeed… in its agenda of pursuing economic development. It is dangerous to want to refrain from criticizing and muzzling everyone who feels so inclined just because you want the govt to succeed and the price we may have to pay in the end may even negate the benefits of development if we don’t speak up.

On the other hand… if you already don’t value your civil liberties and are in the camp that believes India should have followed the Chinese model blah blah, well there’s nothing to say. And maybe it’s us liberals who are getting in the way bleating on and on about liberty. While you are it, please also demolish the statues of our freedom fighters and wipe off their names from the streets because if we sacrifice liberty for ‘growth’, then everything they fought for has been lost.

And… no, before some bhakt leaps on to this argument, I am NOT selectively ignoring the restriction on alcohol consumption imposed in Kerala or the ban recently imposed in Bihar. FWIW I think those are bird brained laws too and will only help the mafia make money from illegal sales. However, at least those laws do not discriminate in applying the ban. They are consistent. An informal dry day for a day when only Hindus are required to fast is the very epitome of imposing a Hindu rashtra on people. Modi has once again said all the right things in Parliament in this session. And hopefully there will be a difference in the overall outlook of the party after the stinging Bihar defeat. But the true test will be when some loudmouth once again asks Muslims at large to either live like Hindus or go to Pakistan. Will the party crack the whip or will they again pretend not to have heard it?

While the whole nation (social media) is debating over what Aamir Khan did was right/wrong, I’m thinking and grinning about the poster-tearing scene in ‘Vettiya Madichu Kattu’? – thanks to the recent discussion about Bhagyaraj in ‘Naanum Rowdydhaan’ thread. 🙂

Thanks for this article, Mr. Rangan. I wish we had more people like you and Aamir Khan in India, and fewer–much fewer–of the sort that you and he have correctly decried (some of whom I also see on this comment thread).

I have gone through a range of emotions with this one. Let me just say I completely agree with your post except for the conclusion. No – the moral of the story in my opinion isn’t about keeping pretences for social media’s sake. No, for me at least its uncomfortably complicated.

On religion – It doesn’t matter in what perspective you look at Amir Khan’s comments – Off-the-cuff / honest / calculated / cynical / out-of-context / ignorant / incendiary or some combination of any or all of these – and it doesn’t matter what role the media had to play in all this – to put it straight, if an ordinary Indian Muslim guy one day decided to go to the media and tell them that he is wondering if he should move out of this country in no uncertain terms, would it STILL be ok for the general public to react like this (assuming they will still pretty much react like this)? This is the first thing that I am worried about because I think we have to acknowledge we live in a highly charged environment that is just waiting to explode at the least provocation. If media is guilty of sensationalisation, then the public is partly (or wholly guilty) for being gullible and/or for wanting sensational news over other critical but boring stuff. And what will it take for religious people to become comfortable enough with their own religion that they can choose NOT to be hurt by religious satire or harmless actions/words/thoughts that seemingly mock their religion or religious practices?

On free speech and government – There is no denying we have freedom of speech between one citizen to another in this democratic country, and as with this incident – we have a right to speak out our thoughts but acknowledge that others have a right to not listen to it or respect it. What about the freedom to record dissent against this government though and has the common man given up on it? This is the second thing I am worried about. Take the instance of government sending threatening notices to three prominent TV channels just because they decided to air interviews arguing against the hanging of Yakub Memon (http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/yakub-memons-hanging-outrageous-showcause-notice-to-tv-channels-editors-guild-of-india/article7522121.ece) or its very heavy-handed handling of (not-so-perfect) Greenpeace http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/11/indias-war-on-greenpeace. Quoting the author of the excellent and well-researched Greenpeace article, who says of his experience interviewing a government official – “Here it was again, the reflexive invocation of malevolence. To encounter it on social media, that amplifier of acrimony, was one thing; to run into it in a serious conversation with a government official, and to think that it informed policy, felt far more troubling. ”

And I don’t know why but I am slightly more concerned about the first rather than the second. Of course, compared to knee-jerk reactions in the US (where many states have blindly rejected taking in Syrian refugees just because one of the Paris terrorists MIGHT have come in the refugee route) or the UK (where there has been a marked increase in hate crimes against Muslims particularly against women wearing the hijab), in India the situation is still largely benign. And I just want it to stay that way because I fricking love this country too much for how effortlessly peaceful it can be whilst being so incomprehensibly diverse.

Syed Khalid: I fully agree with your views in your article “The Importance of being honest”. At a time when almost the entire media, particularly social media is in the grip of mass hysteria over Amir Khan’s remarks, it is good to find some sane voice who dares to swim against the tide.

Sir, I am really impressed by your logical and unbiased views on the sensitive topic.

Anamika Singh: This is regarding the article named ‘The Importance of being honest’ on Nov 26 in The Hindu. I totally agree with your point of view that everyone has the freedom of speech and expression and we should stop nagging about it. Just because we don’t have the courage to speak the truth in public, doesn’t mean, anyone who does, is wrong or a traitor. Its something we all think about in guarded rooms.

I support your point of view totally but I do have one concern- Should a strong public figure say that in the media when India is already working out a few kinks in the development process? Will that statement not shake the trust of millions of people in and outside the country? And when our Prime Minister is zealously moving around the world convincing big countries to invest in India and building the nation’s framework, doesn’t this statement dilute everything he is doing? I understand that many people might have the same concern, but this statement coming from an International figure, doesn’t it do more harm than good?

I admire your work and your articles. I love the way you write and make your point. It’s a treat reading your work.

Ganapathi: Dear Sir, Amirkhan has right to express his views in this democractic country. Amikhan Doesn’t have to say the most perfectly worded, Politically correct,lawer-vetted things in public. But, I am Amirkhan Fan and I follow every words of him. Amirkhan is very well known to India, All
People would follow his views. If a common man like me Comments about Intolerance It doesn’t impact even 5 people but A Star like Amrikhan comments It goes viral and Impacts crores of People, I was wondering Why does he have to make such controversial comments in this sensitive situation.It will create Lot of Problems.

Amirkhan is a role model to some people. It is not very good for him to create such controversy in Public. It is his fundamental duty to uphold and protect the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India. Rather than Pressing on Wound, He would’ve tried to safeguard the unity of India by his words. As an Indian Citizen Amirkhan not only having Fundamental
rights (Right to Speak) but he also have Fundamental Duties i.e To promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood amongst all the people of India transcending religious, lingustic and regional or sectional diversities(Article 51A)

Ajay Kamath: Dear Sir, In the cacophony of nonsense that we have been forced to endure over the Aamir Khan non issue, it was a relief to finally read a thoughtful and sensible piece! Thank you and may your ilk thrive!

There is NO climate of intolerance that has suddenly cropped up in the last year. That is plain hogwash. The media has you believe that there is some level of distrust that has been cultivated by the present Govt. and that minorities are in danger yada yada yada. There is no such thing. India has ALWAYS been like that.

Some level of intolerance is built into the Indian Psyche and eradicating that is only possible through a good education,and that will take generations. Coming to Aamir Khan and his comment, he should be allowed to express his opinions and people are allowed to disagree/agree. No problems there. And YES, a lot of disagreements are not very civil, but what do you expect in a country like India. But a lot of people who are moderate/not-extremists have also come out against his comments because it is hypocritical. The points he brought up “Sense of Injustice” etc etc can apply to any Govt. that India has had in the past. He mentions that too (“no matter what the ruling party is”) but that was to make sure that his comment is not perceived as targeting the present Govt. which he certainly was doing. He has every right to criticize the Govt but frankly, saying this now after the academia/authors staged their “Award Wapsi” drama is just plain hypocrisy.

These self-appointed intellects capitalize on the pedestrian nature of public discourse and media debates in India. I would have supported his comments had he voiced out his support for Sanal Edamaruku or Taslima Nasreen or most recently A.R Rahman who was hounded by a Fatwa for some trivial reason.

Some level of intolerance is built into the Indian Psyche and eradicating that is only possible through a good education,and that will take generations. Coming to Aamir Khan and his comment, he should be allowed to express his opinions and people are allowed to disagree/agree. No problems there. And YES, a lot of disagreements are not very civil, but what do you expect in a country like India. But a lot of people who are moderate/not-extremists have also come out against his comments because it is hypocritical. The points he brought up “Sense of Injustice” etc etc can apply to any Govt. that India has had in the past. He mentions that too (“no matter what the ruling party is”) but that was to make sure that his comment is not perceived as targeting the present Govt. which he certainly was doing. He has every right to criticize the Govt but frankly, saying this now after the academia/authors staged their “Award Wapsi” drama is just plain hypocrisy.

As I see it, I can see plenty of comments on this very blog which are written in the same vein as my post here. So the people who disagree are not just mindless Bhakts. Quite a lot of disgruntled moderates who have had enough of this mud slinging on both sides.

rkjk: I agree with your assessment of AK’s comment. Not so much that it was hypocritical but the timing looked a bit suspect. I do not agree that this is just the same intolerance that has always been there. That, yes, plus a bunch of guys occupying positions of power who would let the fringe believe they have licence to kill. In that sense, AK’s comment does some disservice to the cause. Owaisi’s response was one of the most sensible to AK. He said he was a proud Indian Muslim and would not leave but rather keep fighting. That’s precisely the point. AK saying his wife felt scared and wanted to leave India (as if to imply he had similar thoughts on his mind) was just playing into the hands of the right wing. It was a virtual invitation for them to turn around and say, “Please go, we don’t want your ilk here anyway.” I notice that the overall mood has thawed after the Owaisi comment, at least within the political establishment (still no shortage of people expressing outrage at AK). I have no great regard for Owaisi as such but in this instance, I was glad he eschewed the opportunity to politicize the issue and made a responsible statement. I hope the maturity will be reciprocated by the ruling establishment. We’ve had quite enough of this sabre-rattling. This year, farmers are reeling under the double whammy of drought and unseasonal rains; govts, both central and state, would be well advised to do something about their plight instead of wasting time inciting communal unrest.

We may have different opinions on this issue and are entitled to them, but I guess at the end of day we all want the same thing – peaceful lives for all to lead and a country we all can be proud of. So let’s agree to disagree on this one, and let time address our fears and answer our queries.

(PS. I dont think any party will be allowed to go scot free after any kind of mischief. We’ve seen UPA1 rewarded, UPA2 punished, and even BJP punished in Bihar and so on. So I guess we can safely place our trust in the electorate)

@Such incidents such as Dadri are terrible.. but such things have always happened in India. India has not suddenly become different because of 1 dadri incident.

I don’t think that’s true.This is the first incident of this kind (Lynch mob cow related) happened since 1947. This has been confirmed by the Hindu editorial also. We’ve had so many communal incidents but of THIS KIND this is the FIRST. So obviously this is a dangerous incident.

Excellent Article I would say!

“Barack Obama keeps assuring the American people. But the average American, when faced with an incomprehensible tragedy, knows that his President will reach out and talk to him.

So true this is. You folks would remember the BP oil Fiasco which happened 5 years before which was purely a fault of the COrporate. There was lot of Blame game going on with whole shore getting polluted. Just look at Obama’s response.

I AM RESPONSIBLE AND THIS IS MY JOB. I WILL MAKE SURE I WILL DO IT.

This is a open questions to the forum. have we heard of similar statements from any Politicians who are in the top positions in the last 40 years”. Anybody at all?

How many communal incidents have happened in the last 30 years. Sikhs klling in 1984, 2002 riots. Did anybody at all made a comment”. YES I ‘AM RESPONSIBLE THIS HAS HAPPENED UNDER MY WATCH”

No. for this miracle you need to go back almost 50 years back to go a supreme Leader “KAMARAJ” who resigned his CM position and told he wants to go political work on the ground.

And if, instead, the Twitterati just take offence and begin lashing out, how does it help, except perhaps to give media channels something sensationally juicy to milk?

Its the reverse sir, It’s all upside down . Aamir said something – innocently or not. The media just blew it upfor its narrow ends. that news got the twitteratti enraged. Don’t let your media brethren get away so easily. I don’t think anybody s has seen the real interview I understand your outrage, but you missed the important aspect of the dirty games that both the wings of media played in this. This does put this piece off balance.The left wing media blew up his statement to beat the current govt black and blue, while the right wing painted the picture of a Muslim actor using his Hindu wife as a scapegoat for leaving the country. Both was equally deplorable. Now justly, the actors are afraid to talk to the media. Ranbir and imtiaz Ali hadn’t even finished answering the question before the channels started flashing their responses in big breaking news headlines. SRK cancelled the publicity interview for dilwale. He knows that the media will be waiting to pick on him like vultures to get the reaction to the Aamir Khan issue. huh!

There is an interesting aspect to this whole right wing outrage. The very next day, Aamir talked about this, A R Rahman said that he also faced similar situation a while ago. While right wing internet trolls (most of them with fake profiles) had a field day posting obscenities about a ‘Muslim’ actor complaining about intolerence of India, there has been no outrage over AR Rahman’s statement. While they equated a criticism against government or right wing parties as anti-national activity, they never felt the need to disapprove A R Rahman. A R Rahman was talking about the fatwa issued against him by a Muslim organisation, and right wing internet army is totally ok with it! Anupama Kher did not tweet ‘India made you A R Rahman’. No one told A R Rahman is defaming India. No one told A R Rahman is anti-national. I’m wondering how the social media would react, If he had spoken against a similar incident where bigotry of right wing organisation is involved.

Madan: Problem is media, media and media. Do we have any source of unbiased disinterested news in the country? Not that NYT,Guardian,WSJ and their ilk are without their biases but I am positive a non-issue like this would have been nipped in the bud there. On watching/reading One would think there are only two classes of people in India – The hardline secularists and the hardline right-wing fundamentalists. Even social media has been hijacked by these thugs. You have to visit BR’s blog and read the comments to see that moderate voices exist and that they are in fact voicing out their opinion.

I think the way forward is moderated threads ala Reddit. Although they are not free from these retards, contrarian views are exchanged freely. I stopped trusting in MSM sometime back and my decision has been proved right time and again.

The fall from grace has been gradual but definite for The Hindu. I have been reading the paper for all of 10 years and even I can see the change. Their editorials are hopelessly one-sided and I don’t think this is a new development. They have been riding on the fumes of past glory for sometime now and the younger generation (my generation) is just swallowing the kool-aid (that Hindu is for the intellectuals and whatnot).

This is not a veiled attack on BR or this post. BR is probably the hire of the decade for the paper, and probably one of the best (film) column writers in India and possibly the world.

Well both the Congress and BJP will score political points in this issue and Parliament will be a washout.Big loss of taxpayer money. Congress can ask questions.. that’s not a problem but blocking important bills? Confrontation politics or paying back on the same coin? Of course, if Congress comes to power on 2019, the first “thank you” note will be sent to Amir Khan, second to Shahrukh and the third and the most important to Arvind Kejriwal for cutting into BJP votes (smiles) (..AK will always bring smiles).

Both the Congress and the BJP will score political points on this issue. parliament session will be a washout. Loss of taxpayer money.No political party cares for the common man or poor. Questions can be asked but not washout. At least some BJP leaders are mature enough to admit such incidents are cause of concern. If Congress comes to power in 2019, he may send first thank you note to Aamir Khan and the second to Arvans Kejriwal for cutting into BJP votes.

@Ranjan, why is Aamir playing goofy roles nowadays.. alien in Pk having weird expressions, a joke character in 3 idiots. Why cannot he play his own superior self as seen in movies like Rang De basanthi, Raja Hindustan ii and Akeley hum Akeley Tum?

Great power comes with great responsibilities. Aamir Khan put foot in his mouth by bringing bedroom conversation and his wife into the scene, sharing private secrets, on national TV at journalism award show. Had it been a social party, journo asking bytes or some such gathering it wouldn’t have made so much difference as it currently has made for him (tight security and what not). So ‘freedom’ of speech is not to be abused or taken lightly. Not by the celebs. You have to take leaf out of Amitabh’s life… though he did make mistake during 1984 but never again,

I have a bigger problem with this whole affair. Irrespective of whether one agrees with Aamir’s views or not, when did we become such a hypersensitive bunch to take the comment of one celebrity to such extremes and make a national discourse out of it? I am more bewildered by the extent of the coverage of this by the media and the (highly) vocal reactions to this on both sides of the aisle. Debating tolerance or the lack of it is one thing (and a very important one) but the discussion has become personal, vindictive and fallen to the level of name calling (‘traitor’, ‘GTFO’, and the like)

Though being a big fan of Aamir, I have always been skeptical of Aamir’s intelligence – not conscience – with matters NOT relating to film-dom [remember the squatting for NBA?]. For Aamir, to get carried away to talk at a conference about his wife’s ill-founded fears of their child being bullied/pre-judiced under-lined on religion points to two things:

(i) He honestly thought a bed-room or kitchen or bath-room conversation-with-fantastic-mirrors-above-and-sideways in his humble abode is something he could ‘legitimize’ at a conference – a press-conference of journalism no less! And that it would be construed in a vein as light as Salman Khan’s sermon to SRK’s mentor/benefactor Armaan Kohli on BIG BOSS

(ii) He TRULY thought there was an all-pervading climate of intolerance [man this word] hovering over the Indian skies where the folks that identified themselves with the majority community were going berserk thinking that their Don Corleone – Modi – was at the center of affairs and would mete out ‘justice’ as he did in the opening scene of ‘The Godfather.’

In the context of your article, we would like to bring to your attention the enclosed two items. We would particularly like to point out to you that the second item had appeared in issue dated November 5. To the best of our knowledge, the views of Salman Khan has not received the same traction as those of the other two.

Sorry but that’s way over simplified. Guess who the white males voted for in the last election? Yeah, the Republicans. Obama forged a coalition of non whites plus white women who feel uncomfortable with Republican politics. I have lost count of the number of rants I have read from Americans about the way the police handles blacks vis a vis whites.

I rate your above mentioned as the BEST and the MOST FORTHRIGHT and EQUANIMOUS ARTICLE that I have come Across on this “Willfully DESIGNED , ENGINEERED , MANUFACTURED – and TRULY an Unwanted / UNSAVOURY CONTROVERSY over the MILD COMMENTS / OBSERVATIONS that Aamir Khan had made over the INCREASING INTOLERANT and at TIMES very VIOLENT VIGILANTISM leading to even LYNCHINGS of INNOCENT MEN on mere suspicion of BEEF EATING or COW-SLAUGHTER, that is visible all over India nowadays by the so called RIGHT WING FRINGE that has nowadays taken the CENTER-STAGE of the RIGHT WING POLITICAL SPACE in India if not having become the VERY CORE of the EXTENDED HYDRA-HEADED SANGH PARIVAR!

I read the FOLLOWING COMMENT against the ARTICLE in The Hindu and I have reproduced it below for your READY REFERENCE: In my OPINION Both your ARTICLE and the FOLLOWING comment are EXCELLENT!

I am LOOKING FORWARD to READING your more such and SIMILARLY LUCID articles in The Hindu and more FREQUENTLY!

Wish you GODSPEED!

I read the FOLLOWING COMMENT against the ARTICLE in The Hindu have reproduced below for READY REFERENCE: In my OPINION Both the ARTICLE and the FOLLOWING comment are EXCELLENT!

COMMENT on the WEBSITE:

From: S. Johnson United States

I read the two articles – Cults & Conscience and Importance of being honest. I am at a loss to understand what is the problem with the people who are accusing Amir Khan of unpardonable sins. A private conversation was publicized and abused to the maximum extent by sleazy press and their ilk. I have not yet seen this new film about Indian God men. But, I can say with confidence that Indian God men are the biggest bastards, probably next to Catholic priest who abuse children. All the Indian God men who came to the U.S. and made lots of money were eventually kicked out of the Country after people realized their abuses. Every crook in India hides behind an Indian Hindu Goodman and try to absolve him/her. This practice ought to be brought to light and stopped. If Amir Khan made an effort to this objective in his new film, all power to him. Amir khan is a patriot, an honest citizen, a father and an artist. His contributions to expose the social ills of Indian society are commendable.

Amidst all the negativity, intolerance, violence, communalism and terrorism in the news these days, for a change, it was heart warming and moving to see so many news and social media reports about the overwhelming response to help those affected by the floods in Chennai. It brings back one’s faith in humanity and in the intrinsic goodness of human beings.

In the sea of insanity that’s got a-hold of the media, your voice reassured me that all is not lost for journalism. Thank you for that.

My surprise increased many fold when I also realized that you are the author of “Conversations with Mani Ratnam” which I happened to buy by pure chance at Hyderabad Airport about a year and a half ago. I greatly enjoyed reading it – and it now occupies a proud place on my book-shelf.

Thank you again for that brilliant piece in The Hindu, and I greatly look forward to your writings.

Yours,
Anonymous

P.S: I found your email address on your website.

And yours angstly wrote back…

Me: Thank you. As much as I appreciated your mail, I was a little depressed to see this statement:

“I honestly did not expect such thoughtful, nuanced writing from a movie critic.”

I don’t know what this says about the perception of movie critics.

May I share your mail on my blog?

And he said…

Ed Greg:Dear Mr. Rangan,

I am flattered that you’d like to share this email on your blog. Please feel free to do so.

Maybe I should’ve been a little more clear about that statement. I have the utmost admiration for movie critics and their movie reviews. What I actually meant was: “I honestly did not expect such thoughtful, nuanced political writing from a movie critic.” (In case you do decide to share this, please feel free to edit this sentence.)

Thank you again. Looking forward to more of your writing.

Still, I don’t think this is a particularly “political” piece, except maybe in the sense that everything we choose we be or say is political is some way.

It is true that the words might have been an emotional outburst rather than a well reasoned out, intellectual one. But emotional outbursts have emotional responses. Why do we expect emotional outbursts to be greeted by intellectual, well reasoned out responses? Most of the accolades he gets are emotional rather than intellectual. If he willingly gobbles up all the accolades, why should he not take some of the emotional brickbats?

Well, let us take his emotional statement and analyse it. Accepting the fact that there has been some intolerance (whether it has been over exaggerated for political mileage or it is a reality) and this intolerance has made him contemplate immigration. What are the options available to him?

a) Immigrate to an Islamic Country (Middle East, Malaysia…). How many of the Islamic Countries really have tolerance? KSA? Kuwait? If it is KSA, Anmir Khan’s Hindu wife has to be draped in an abhaya / burqa covering her from head to toe. He will be held guilty of so many Islamic Offences (singing, dancing, marrying a Hindu lady, drinking (if he drinks), acting….). Kuwait has the track record of deporting non Muslims because the noise level in the pooja was high. The tolerance of sunnis and wahabhis towards shias in all these countries is well known. Probably, the few Islamic Countries with tolerance are Indonesia, Malaysia, etc.

b) The other well known candidates for immigration: Australia — Is it not well known for racism? In UK, by their behavior, Muslims are not a favored lot. France is paying a heavy price for having allowed liberal immigration of Muslims

c) In US, is not racism practiced against black and Hispanics? Is not Trump talking in terms of barring Muslims? What if Trump becomes the next President? Will all Muslims move out of US? US wants to go through social network postings of the applicants before deciding to grant therm a visa.

Muslims are by and large paying the price for not reigning in their terrorist especially when the terrorism is justified in the name of jihad and sharia. Wherever there is moderate Islam (Indonesia or Sufism of India), it is frowned upon by the fundamentalists, puritans and the clergy. Islam does not encourage open debates. They seem to be saying”I am right. You are not right ” quadrant

Amir Khan has been having the best of both the worlds. His money and fame have come from India. His beloved wife is from India / Hindu community. In India, the celebs and the haves can get away by even committing cold blooded murder under the influence of alcohol with the help of a botched up prosecution and a pliable judiciary. What is really threatening him? He lives in Mumbai all the time, the citadel of Sena. Has he been under the threat of Sena at any point of time?

Muslims want the best of both the worlds. In Islamic countries / caliphates, their religion will prevail. Others have no right to follow their religion. In democracies, they and their holy book to be protected (the right to marry multiple times, the right to divorce at the drop of a hat, etc.). They will have scant respect for others faith but their faith should be respected at all time. They will say singing of national anthem is prohibited in their religion and jihad justified in their religion and yet their loyalty to the nation should not be questioned. We applaud Khan’s focus on casteism and female infanticide on his television shows. Has he spoken about Islam wahabhis antipathy towards Ahemdaiayas, bohras, shais… in any forum?

When one is in public life, they should be ready for bouquet of flowers, they should also be ready for brickbats. There is a price to be paid for the benefits which come with public life. Please do not crib saying there is “no privacy”.

Note: I am not a BJP sympathiser. However, I am sick of our so called secular political parties and their double standards. I am also sick of the intellectuals who think Hindu bashing is fine but not Islam bashing. I have been in Middle east for 12 years and patiently put up with all the non sense there. I have moved with a number of Muslims. While I can talk with an open mind on Hinduism with any Hindu, I cannot talk regarding Islam to any Muslim. I will live on a perpetual mortal fear whether I will be held guilty of blasphemy. I fail to understand how in the name of God, an individual’s thought process can be curtailed using physical threats and punishments as consequences.